Day of Reckoning
by the-other-em
Summary: COMPLETE!When Gregor falls again he finds that many things have changed and that the creation of the Demon Alira and the destruction of his home may be his fault.Huge plot twist, Gluxa and a sequel on the way! T for later violence.
1. The Alarm

**Disclaimer: I don't own Suzanne Collins' characters or any plots that she came up with. I only take her wonderful building blocks and shape them into some semblance of a story.**

**A/N: I hope that everyone enjoys the story! Don't be afraid to send me suggestions- my ideas are fed by my readers!!**

**If you would like to review after you have finished reading then I would greatly appreciate it. **

**Ch.1 (version 2- rewritten upon questions and REVIEWS!) The Alarm**

_Alira: Creatures of Demon nature that posses animals and kill civilians to become more powerful. They seem to be pack hunters, and are able to level up as they eat more and more humans. _

Gregor had pulled out the faded notebook once more and studied its contents. The worn pages were dusty but were all covered in extensive notes about the creatures he hunted. He pulled himself into his favorite corner and began to study his father's final journal on the Alira.

_The Alira are high level demons that seem to be able to possess animals. I have studied them for the past four years and have come to the conclusion that there are fourteen levels, all organized by intelligence and strength. _

_An Alira will start off as a level one. It will infiltrate a very small creature and mutate that creature until it is much larger and more grotesque than its original form. IT will then begin killing and eating the flesh of other animals and humans. The lower levels (about one-four) seem to be able to sustain their growth with animals only, but as they become stronger Human flesh is needed to become more powerful. In my studies I have noticed a trend in the transitions between levels.  
Each time and Alira levels up it moves into the body of another animal of higher ranking. An earthworm would become a mouse, a mouse a snake, a snake a cat- and so on and so forth. The possessed animal only lives while the Alira is attached to it, dying upon transfer. _

_Below I have included a list of known Alira levels with their animals. There are a few sketches, but the Alira seem to be individual and have certain characteristics that make them all unique. _

_I must warn you that if you are to become mixed up in all of this you may wish you hadn't. The most dangerous of all Alira are the level fourteen, the human. If an Alira can consume enough humans to gain level 13 then they can become a level 14. The level fourteens look exactly like human-beings. I believe that the human body does not distort because we are designed to hold some spiritual pressure, like a soul. This leads me to the conclusion that when a demon possesses a human as a level 14 the soul is pushed out and the person dies without their body. _

_An Alira that has reached level 14 is very hard to catch. It can speak, think, and act just like a human and on a few instances the Alira level 14 have been mistaken for serial killers…_

The pages afterward went on to describe each level and the animals associated with it. Gregor had memorized the entire thing when the Alira had begun attacking the city of New York and it's surrounding areas.

When his father and mother had been… massacred by the Alira he had been sent over the edge for a while. He hadn't believed that the Alira were a real threat until the people he loved were taken away from him. Gregor sighed and pushed away the torturous memories of coming home to find his parents on the living room floor.

That had been three years ago. The Alira had shown up around the time that Gregor had left the Underland, but he hadn't started defending the city until three years ago.

'that would make it… seven years…" he thought to himself, wondering if everyone down in his deep home was okay. He knew that it would be almost impossible to go down there again. He had too much to do "upstairs".

The first thing he needed to do was to tell Creed to turn his music down. Creed was a tall skinny rager that Gregor had picked up fighting on the streets almost two years ago. He had been beaten up pretty badly but had held his own against two level five Alira and Gregor had decided to keep him.

At first it was just going to be Gregor, Boots, Lizzie and Ms. Cormaci, but when she had fallen too ill to take care of them Gregor took custody of his sisters and moved their guardian angel into a nursing home. She and a few other ladies had put together a fund and hired Gregor to be their bodyguard. He had accepted the job. At the age of fifteen he began to work against the Alira force. When he found Creed they had just fit the kid into their mismatched lives.

"Hey Creed?!" Gregor yelled pounding on the 16 year olds door, "Can you turn it down?"  
"WHAT?" Creed yelled prying open his door, "I can't hear you!"

"I KNOW! TURN YOUR MUSIC DOWN!"

"Oh, cool. I only turned it up because Zeva had her crazy Indian music on." Creed reached behind him and flipped his radio off, "What's up?"

"That's all, I guess." Gregor shrugged.

"Oh hey man! Did you get a date with that girl?" Creed asked poking Gregor in the side.

Gregor flinched reflexively and moved out of the way, "No! I didn't like her like that!"  
"DUDE! She was TOTALLY H-O-T!! And she gave you her number! What's wrong with you, you're almost twenty years old and you never look at girls!"

"It's probably because he's gay." Chloe said sashaying by. She was another Alira orphan (That's what Gregor called kids who had survived an Alira attack when their parents had been killed, although he never said it to their faces.)

"I am not!" He fumbled, knowing exactly where he stood, "It's just that I'm… I mean … I haven't really found the right girl… at least not recently… it's really complicated so could we just… I mean…"  
"It's okay, dude. I'll totally forgive you for being an outcast." Creed patted him on the arm with a large grin on his face.

"Hah. Thanks," Gregor brushed him off playfully and then added, "Remember you have guard duty tonight."  
"But I was on two nights ago!" Creed complained shuffling out of his dark room to follow Gregor down the hall, whining all the way. A large group of rich old people from one of New York's best nursing homes had paid Gregor and his new 'family' to guard them at night. Each night two guards would go and protect the residents from any 'Alirial Peril' or 'AP' as Ms. Cormaci put it. She was a strange one.

Anyway, all of their funding for their equipment, and technology came from these generous people, who could sleep peacefully without any 'AP'. So if they didn't guard they didn't have money, simple as that.

"I know, but Dalton asked off a few weeks ago."

"For what?" Creed said, catching up with Gregor.

"I have no idea?"

"Do you think he has a date?"

Gregor thought a moment, "It's possible. I don't want to gossip."  
"Oh come on, Gregor! Please!! I'm begging!" He pulled on one of Gregor's sleeves, his face pleading.

"How old are you, Creed?" Gregor laughed and pulled his arm away, "You're acting like a gossiping old woman!" Creed huffed and mumbled something that sounded quite like, "I'll just ask Boots."

Gregor peeked his head around the doors down the long hallway. Each room was decorated uniquely to its occupants. To date there were 13 people living in the building, including him and his sisters. He was the 'father' of the house, which made Lizzie the resident 'mom.'

The third floor was the boys floor where Gregor, Creed, Dalton, Devon, Matt, Mark, and Rugger lived. The second floor housed the girls; Lizzie, Boots, Chloe, Zeva, Kayla, and Dakota. The top floor was a commons area, set up like a game room while the bottom floor was a huge garage.  
Ms. Cormaci had found and rented this old building, an abandoned firehouse, on the edge of Brooklyn and it provided them with a home base for their operation.

It was really a perfect building for the jobs that they performed. Everyone in the building besides his sisters were ragers (or ragers in training as some hadn't mastered the art of killing.) Gregor had picked them up from the streets over the last few years. Some were too young to know what they really were, but many were part of his elite team that worked against the Alira. If they weren't on guard duty they were waiting at the firehouse to be given a mission. That's why the firehouse was good for the team. If Lizzie's radar picked up Alira anywhere in New York the fire alarms would blare and his team would jump into action.

This lifestyle worked for them and each new member of their mismatched family was accepted easily into their group.

Of course Lizzie and Boots had always held a special place in his heart, but he had grown to love these annoying silly kids that called him-

"CAPTAIN!!!" A high-pitched voice called out from behind him. He turned and saw a bright headed little boy running towards him. The kid jumped and Gregor grabbed him from midair. He was really skinny for his age and had a woolen hat on his head that was brighter than a rainbow. He hugged the little boy who giggled and climbed around till he was sitting on Gregor's shoulders.

"What's up, Rugger?" Creed asked the little monkey kid.

"Heaven, duh!" Rugger said, motioning upward. Gregor rolled his eyes at Rugger's frankness. He really reminded Gregor of Hazard, although Rugger was five and Hazard must be about 16.

As Gregor walked around checking on his family Rugger ranted about anything and everything he could think of. They went through the subjects of Christmas toys, boogers, Creeds smelly socks, the haunted toilet on the girls floor, and flowers.

When Gregor was satisfied that everyone was present and nothing new was happening he carried Rugger over to the elevator and sent him back to his floor, promising to come play later. The kid idolized him too much for his own good.

Then he and Creed headed down the elevator to his sisters lab in the basement. It was where Lizzie's genius came out to play. She tinkered with everything from chemicals to hover boards. She was really an amazing person and her laboratory was an amazing place to visit. The large underground room was filled with state-of-the-art technology, some of it invented by her and their father.

"Gregor!" Lizzie said from behind a large hover board. She pulled herself from underneath it, her face streaked with oil and her hair sticking out of her ponytail. She quickly hugged her brother and Creed, shrugging it off when Gregor asked her what the love was for.

"Listen I was wondering if you guys wanted to get out for dinner tonight? There's a new Chinese restaurant that just opened downtown and I think that-"

His words were cut off by a earsplitting alarm ringing through the echoing basement. Lizzie cringed, covering her ears and motioned for Gregor and Creed to get going. They rushed up the stairs, knowing that the elevator was too slow.

An Alira was in the area. It was time to kill.


	2. Lime green laces

**A/N: I do not own Suzanne Collins' characters or any of her story. I just own my OC's and the story that I create with her wonderful ideas. Thanks**

**Please R&R when you are done reading! I want to know what I should do and how I'm doing!!**

**Also please be courteous to others on the reviews**

Black boots with lime green laces were strapped firmly to her small feet. The somewhat elastic dark pants and shirt were covered by her strait military styled jacket with it's large silver buttons and dark material. The static shawl that wrapped around her hair and face was a rather new technology. It was actually one of the first times that she had worn this high tech armor. It is designed to prevent the poison that secretes from an Alira carcass from entering the body. A current ran through the flowing material making it taught on the head. The watery-feeling cool cloth went over her nose and was almost close enough to touch with her bottom eyelashes when she opened her eyes wide. The rest of the cloth wrapped once around her thin neck and pulled over her curls, where it was tucked in on the other side of her face. At first her reflection in the mirror made her feel a jolt of surprise at how old she looked, then something seemed to poke its head out from under the pleasure. Fear.

She shook it off knowing that if she could finish this mission then she might be accepted. She would finally be on the team.

A whirring noise behind her startled her from her reverie. She turned and saw the sleek shett of black metal floating behind her, studying her. It clicked.

"What?" she asked spreading her arms wide for evaluation. The hovercraft buzzed and floated closer as if gravity was a figment of everyone's imagination.

They stayed like that the girl with her arms spread and the metal bat inches from her face. She felt as if he was staring in disapproval.

The enormously loud alarm made them both jump, although she was the only one who shrieked. Behind her static shawl she knew that arIes couldn't see her blushing.

Then she moved, with an incredible agility for someone who was clad in so many clothes, and in a flash she had ducked under the bat pushing up against him with the palm of one gloved hand. He squaked at her but she was already scurrying around the corner into the hallway. He followed her out, making sure to not run into anything on his way and raced after her in the dark. She came into the lighted area just as a tall figure stepped out of the room in front of her. She bumped into the newcomers' chest and fell backwards. He was wrapping a static shawl around his own head, tucking the flowing fabric in and considering her as she staggered back, almost running into arIes.

"You're not coming with us," Gregor said as arIes glided over her head. Gregor turned and started down the hallway, making her run to keep up with his long strides.

"But you said that I might be able to start fighting!" She quickly explained as he donned gloves. She tried not to sound desperate or whiney but she wasn't sure she was succeeding.

"I believe I said that you might be able to begin training. Might." He said quietly. She could tell that he was stressed, but pressed her argument.

"But I won't even try to take one out. I'll just stand there and watch. I need to see you all in action before I can start learning to be one of you, right? And anyway you said that when I became of age you would take me out and show me how the battle-thing works, right? Well I think I'm old enough-"

"Boots, you're nine. End of discussion." He grabbed onto the fireman's pole and slid down to the bottom level. arIes' wings collaped inward and he fell through the gap in the floor, ready to snap his wings back out and race into the night.

But Boots knew that this would be her last chance of the night to convince Gregor that she was worthy. She grabbed onto the pole slid down, almost freefalling, and landed on her brother's bat as he was unfolding his wings. The she defiantly looked down at Gregor, who stared back his eyes glinting dangerously in the slit of his static shawl.

"Get off, Margaret." He said. She shook her head, and held her ground.

"I'm old enough, and I know that I won't let you down!"

"That's what I'm most afraid of. Now get off of arIes before we're too late to save anyone!" His temper flared in his words.

"Please!"

"NO"

"Gregor! You never let me do anything."

"Yes I do! Who lets you go to public school? Me! Who lets you have real friends? Me! I don't think you realize how dangerous the world is, and if you start riding with the crew then you'll never be able to do anything that you really want again. You would be marked, Boots. Now move before we loose our targets completely!" He was almost yelling.

"But this IS what I really want!! If you would just-"

"ARIES!" Gregor growled, and the bat flipped Boots off onto the ground where she landed in a heap.

The other members of the crew were arriving, donning equipment, weapons, and static shawls. All seemed rather ragged, but tough and they all had strange determined looks in their eyes.

Gregor looked down at Boots almost apologetically then said, "Let's ride."

The crewmembers all had their own way of transportation, from various hovercrafts to motorcycles each member of the team was equipped with a quick way to get wherever the Alira were.

They raced out of the garage, following their leader into the inky blackness. Three boys and three girls followed Gregor into the unknown, but before she left the oldest girl turned to Boots to tell her that her sister and the others were waiting for her inside. Then they were gone. They had left her there. Again.

**A/N: Hey I just wanted to say that I'm actually having a great time writing this down and I hope you're having as much fun with it as I am! Please review to tell me anything, whether it's about the story or not I just love talking! Thanks for reading!**


	3. The Pursuit

**A/N: So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

**Yep. Oh and I just recently saw the conclusion of Avatar: the last airbender. I rented the DVDs from the library. It's some awesome TV show for kids that I never got to watch 'cause we don't have cable. Yeah. So if you haven't seen it you should probably see it. I just love the storyline!!! Anyway I would really like to write for a TV show someday, or maybe voice act. Actually Voice acting would probably be awesome. Any way I'm done rambling so here's my story. Enjoy.**

The darkness consumed him as his bat hurried against the wind. Of course this didn't bother him he switched easily from seeing with his eyes to seeing with his ears. After long years of practice he barely noticed the change into echolocation. The team was following him quickly and he stayed low to the ground so he could talk to them all. The two boys on motorbikes Dalton and Devon sped up to ride next to him and the rest of his team brought their hover crafts down to Gregor's level. He shouted over the wind, and knew that they would hear. If they were raging he knew that they would hear everything.

"The Alira are on the outer western rim of the city." He said, checking his cell phone for more information on the attack. It was really more like a cross between an IPod and a cell phone and had various uses, although it didn't play any music. He looked onto the illuminated screen and read the details out loud. Lizzie was listening to the Alira blotter, a radio system of undercover agents that sent them information on Alira spottings, then sending him the information as soon as she received it.

"There are four of them! Two are level 3 but one is a level 5! The last one's level hasn't been verified, but it's a higher level than the others!" The wind in his throat made it hard to yell, but he persisted, knowing that his team needed all the info they could get.

"Okay I want Creed and Kayla to take out one 3. Devon and Zeva you're on the other 3. Dalton and Chloe start working on the 5. I want everyone to stay as far away from the unknown until you have defeated the others. Then you may join in. I don't want any casualties, understood. This should be a quick job, but be on your guard. We don't know what's going to happen." He looked around at his fellow ragers as they prepared themselves for the coming battle. He could tell that many of them were raging already. The entire crew never seemed to have a problem getting into their rager modes, but many of them needed assistance becoming stable again. They were working on it.

Gregor pulled upwards as the crew neared the targets, slowly letting the rager sensation flow inside his veins like ink from a broken pen. The strange way of seeing with his eyes, almost like wearing night vision goggles, is suddenly fractured and each small piece of the world is much clearer than it was a few seconds ago. It's almost as if someone has wiped all the dirty fingerprints off a window, even though the window has been shattered.

Then out of nowhere they appeared; the Alira. Gregor saw two of them, presumably the level 3's by the way they looked and by the way they acted, primitively screaming and then jumping at their newest prey. Both of the Alira seemed to be foxes with large bodies and overgrown, mutilated mouths. Tiny eyes were almost covered by matted and bloody tufts of fur that hung down between their large dark ears. They were the color of bright red blood, and from the smell of them the red dye wasn't a born trait. They had killed recently and rolled in the emptying bodies of their prey. Gregor scanned the area quickly looking for corpses, but found none; he guessed they must have been finishing with the dead when they heard the crew approaching, but the bodies were either covered by the rubble, or they had already been eaten.

The rubble was actually peculiar itself. There seemed to be much more of it than there should be in this part of town. Three or four buildings seemed to have collapsed right near the Alira, and although Gregor knew that these level 3's had allies, he didn't think that any normal Alira could destruct so many buildings in such a small amount of time. There was something else going on too. Gregor didn't sense the other Alira. There were supposed to be two upper levels, but they were nowhere in sight, and as Gregor quickly did a full scan of the area he couldn't detect any of the other Alira using heat. The Alira were very cold beings, sucking up the heat from surrounding living and material things, making them rather easy to spot with echolocation (they glowed an iridescent blue).

So the other Alira had moved on to ravage another part of town. As his team moved in on the Alira Gregor circled above and checked his phone. Lizzie hadn't sent him any new updates on the whereabouts of the Alira, so he checked the vicinity again. The only two Alira were the ugly fox-creatures that were slowly being beaten back by the team of ragers. Really it wasn't fair. Two level 3 Alira against 6 of the deadliest teenagers in the world, but Gregor had seen many unfair things in his life. The cell phone beeped in his hand and he saw that he had gotten a text from Lizzie. His brow wrinkled down as he puzzled over this. Lizzie never sent him texts while he was on a mission unless it was a complete emergency. Gregor opened the text and scanned through quickly, heart pumping faster as he acknowledged the words on the glowing screen.

Boots is coming after you.

**A/N: Ahhh, a cliff hanger. I know that it's not as good as some, but I try. Anyway please review and don't hesitate to tell me what should happen next (although I kinda already know- I still need a little help, and I would be glad to give you credit for any input).**


	4. The transmitter

**A/N: So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

Running.

They are running. She can feel the sensation of their footfalls as she comes to, her head bouncing against the rough burlap. She is being carried. By who? There are a few moments of confusion when she is not sure where she is or who has taken her, but it rushes back into her brain like water from a broken dam, wiping all other thoughts away.

The Alira. She was going after Gregor when they came at her. All she could see were faces, horribly scarred faces snarling as they grabbed her off of her hovercraft. The incredibly strong clawed fingers that forced her into the bag. The screaming and crying. The shaking. And then the blackness.

She couldn't see what level they were, but she knew that they weren't basic. No they were thinking animals. They hadn't killed her and they were smart enough to tie the bag closed above her head. She knew that they were taking her somewhere, but couldn't figure out where. The bag was bouncing on something, presumably the back of one of the Alira, and the noise blocked out all others.

The scratchy surface of the bag cut her fingers as she tried to claw out, and she felt suffocated in the heat. But she wouldn't be defeated. If she could get out then maybe she could defeat them. If only she could beat these two before Gregor got there. Then he would see that she was worth having on the team. She would show him. She had a secret.

She was a rager.

Unfortunately the thing about untrained ragers is that they seem to have a lack of control and therefore aren't as useful as they would hope to be. And Boots couldn't quite figure out how to rage at this particular moment. She was in danger, possibly moments away from death, being held captive by demons who would either eat her alive or torture her to the bitter end. Unfortunately her blood stayed un-electrified, her vision was just as bad as normal, and the adrenaline pumping through her veins didn't make her want to kill everything in the immediate area. She grunted and heaved against the bag in anguish.

***

"She did what!?" Gregor yelled into his phone.

"I told you, I went out to check on her and she had taken the spare overboard." Lizzie recited back the facts.

"But where is she now."

"I'm attempting to turn on her transmitter, but there seems to be a block. Is she nearby? The more powerful Alira sometimes jam the signals." Lizzie said

"No. We've already defeated all the Alira in this area. And there were only two lower levels. I don't know where the upper levels went." Gregor glanced around at his team who were cleaning each other up. Other than a few small wounds no one was losing too much blood.

"Wait . . . I think I've got her signal . . . No. Okay I'm going to try to turn them all off and then back on."

"Okay."

"Okay at your location I have Gregor . . . online, Creed… online, Kayla…online, Devon…online, Zeva… Online, Dalton…online, Chloe…online, at my location I have Lizzie… online, Matt… online, Mark…online, Rugger...online, Dakota…online. I can't find Boot's signal!"

"You're sure the signal is searching for hers?"

"Yes. It can't find it."

"Try using the old system" Creed spoke over Gregor's shoulder.

"No Boots never had one of those because they were team only. And they were held transmitters, now we use microchips." Gregor corrected.

"Like walkie talkies?" Zeva asked. She was new to the team, and hadn't been there for the transmition switch.

"Yeah. We used to carry them around with us, but we kept losing them in battle, so Liz upgraded us."

"Gregor!", Lizzie's voice came over the phone, "Gregor I just picked up her signal!"

"Where is she?" Gregor asked.  
"Well the signal is really fuzzy, but it says that she should be right there with you. It's faint, though". The team immediately spread out looking for their lost comrade. She was nowhere.

"Liz are you sure? We can't see her, even with echolocation"

"Yeah … it's weird. It's almost like she's under you guys, but that impossible she…" Lizzie gasped as Gregor registered the words.

"Like she's . . . under us?" Gregor stared at the ground. Then he abruptly rocket into the air, dreading what he would see. And there it was. About half a block away was the edge of the long dead forest that had surrounded Central Park. He could even see the bridge and the rock underneath where he had said goodbye to a dear friend all those years ago. They were that close to it. To her. To everything.

And he knew exactly where to look for Boots.

**A/N: Ahh. It's so good to write again! I've had the swine flu for the last few days and had this part of the story running through my head, and I finally felt like writing it! Well enjoy. If you have any questions don't hesitate to Review the story with anything. :)**


	5. The Descent

**A/N: So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

The rock had already been moved. Gregor examined it as his team huddled behind him. There were deep scratches in the black stone, gouges made from diamond hard claws. The putrid stink rising from the cold abyss let him know two things. That the Alira had definitely been there, and that they had been the first ones to move the rock in quite some time. Gregor pulled back from the stairs and stalked over to his companions.

"Okay. Listen up. We have at least one probably two upper level Alira in there, and for some reason they haven't killed her." He started.

"How do you know that?" Devon asked

"Well they haven't put out that feeding scent. We would have smelled it for miles if they had."

"Couldn't they have killed her and then taken her in there to eat her?" Dalton asked innocently.

"No! They didn't!" Gregor growled.

"Gregor. They were just going over the facts," Kayla started, " you shouldn't snap at-"

"We don't have time to waste arguing over stupidity. I want Kayla and Devon to fly back and escort my sister and the kids back here. Chloe I want you and Dalton to stay here for them. When they get here I want you to escort them to the opening to the waterway. Lizzie will know how to get there. She might even have a map. Once you're in the waterway I want Chloe and Dalton to come back us up, wherever we are. I'm guessing that the transmitters will still work under there. Kayla, Devon fly my sister to Regalia. She'll know what to do. We'll meet everyone there later. Creed and Zeva you're with me." Gregor began to descend the stairs, arIes at his back.

"Wait, wait, wait. Waterway? Regalia? Lizzie has a MAP? Of what?" Chloe sounded hysterical.

"Of the Underland." Gregor said as he disappeared into the earth. Creed and Zeva took an unsure look around to the other ragers and then followed their captain into the dark unknown.

***

"Lizzie!"

"Liz, what's the 'Underland'?"

"Why does Gregor think you have a map?"

"Regalia, what's Regalia?"  
"You don't have a map do you?"

"Waterway, it sounds like a river right?"

"Do you have a map?!"

"Liz, what's in Regalia?"

"I can't believe you have a map!"  
"OKAY!" Lizzie yelled over the hubbub. She was getting a headache quickly and was irked at her brother for not explaining anything to these people earlier. If it was up to her he should have told them as soon as they moved in as their "Mosaic Family" as Gregor called them.

"Listen! A long time ago my family went down in there. There are people who live there, like real people, but they look different. They live in Regalia. It's a city. And they have this queen named Luxa and she and Gregor … well nevermind it's not relevant. Anyway there were a whole buttload of prophecies that said that Gregor was a 'warrior' and that he had to go on all these quests or everyone would die and then I went down and cracked the code and we won the war, but Gregor almost died, and then we all came home!"

"…Wow. So… do you have a map?" Devon asked.

**A/N: Okay so a really short chapter. Yeah no school today. Hopefully I can write more later :)**

**Please write me a review!**


	6. The Underland

**A/N: So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

**Sorry about the delay. Write me more reviews and I may get motivated again!**

Descending into the depths of darkness was a hard thing to do for Creed, who was skeptical of anything mysterious and possibly adventurous. If he hadn't been born a rager he definetly would not be following Gregor around chasing demons. He would be writing a book on the African-grey parrot. Or maybe he would be studying the behavioral patterns of stink-bugs. Something nice and boring to pass the time.

But he wasn't born a boring individual, instead he had been entrusted with the amazing power to kill, and not only to kill but to kill effortlessly. The death penalty flowing through his veins could be triggered at any moment, which made his life as confusing as it was unpredictable. And thus once again he found himself following his captain, who he really did admire a great deal, into another rather odd situation. Who would have thought that there was an elaborate system of tunnels, not connected to the sewer, so close to the big apple. As they stalked along his echolocation skills (a rather new skill for him) slowly replaced his sight and he depended less and less on his small glowing watch face and more on his ears to watch for danger.

Of course, in dark looming tunnels danger seemed to pop out at you, even if it wasn't really there. He kept seeing things at every corner, and the shadows seemed to peek at him from their dark recesses. This of course, didn't help the overwhelming feeling inside of him that he needed to kill something. He felt watched, and this made the rager sensation slowly begin to eat at him from the inside out.

Gregor stopped ahead of him at a large well-like opening in the ground. Creed, being a very tall human being, gazed despairingly over his leaders shoulder into the even darker hole. His insides contracted as a small wispy burst of air curled up out of the well like a worm pulling away from a hook. Gregor reached out his arm and the whip encircled his fingers.

Creed couldn't stop himself from speaking, "Gregor! This isn't normal…"

"It's just the currents. It's like dense air that moves in a certain direction. Like glowing smoke or something." He replied his eyes never leaving the wisp. Then as if remembering where he was he brushed it away motioned to ArIes, who had been flying behind them.

"Grab your board- Let's go" And he disappeared into the hole.

Zeva who had been strangely quiet the entire time, was crossing her arms and shivering. She looked back at her own hover board, which moved forward for her to clamber onto. It was a magnificent board really, bright red on the top, and black on the bottom it was an oval shape with small triangular wings coming off of the sides of the top. It glimmered in the sun, but seemed to shrink away from the darkness of the tunnels. Zeva followed Gregor into the well, looking nervous, but Creed saw a glint of something dangerous in her eyes as well. He couldn't tell if she was about to rage, or if she was frightened, but if she was feeling anything near to what he was it was both.

He hopped onto his own hover board, Zeus, was its name. It was pure silver with a black lightning bolt down the center. It clicked fondly at him and he placed his feet into the worn footholds. As Zeus carried him into the hole he wondered what in the world they were looking for. Surely the Alira wouldn't keep Boots alive just to hide her somewhere as remote as this well… he wished that they would find her soon. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Magestic carved ceilings swooped above him, and below deep purple waters churned softly from unseen inhabitants. The air felt cool but smelled of salt and something he couldn't place. He reveled in the small ocean, and wondered how long it had been hiding in the depths of the earth. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen, and he didn't even know how to describe it fully.

He clicked continuously to try and perceive the whole picture, but he couldn't see the wall of the cave. He didn't even know if there were walls. What if underneath the earth there were huge oceans everywhere? How had scientists not discovered them? How had this gotten here? And where in the world could Boots have disappeared to in this cavernous space?

The ocean was so new and unexpected that Zeus has hesitated a few moments to regain his place in the world, but he was soon rocketing after Zeva and Gregor, leaving Creed helplessly standing on him gazing at his new surroundings.

"Where are we?" He heard Zeva call ahead.

"This is the Waterway" Gregor shouted against the wind

"Where does it go?" Creed yelled

"What?" Gregor replied, turning his head to try to hear better against the rushing currents.

"I SAID WHERE DOES IT GO" Creed's deep voice cracked at the end of his sentence and he immediately grimaced. His voice was almost done changing, but he still had a few glitches to work out.

"It goes to Regalia." Gregor seemed uncomfortable with his answer.

"How do you know that?" Creed asked coming to fly next to them

"Because I've been there before. When I was a kid I fell into this place. It's called the Underland. People like us are Overlanders and the people down here are Underlanders. It's not too terribly confusing, if you understand their odd vocabulary."

"Wait, you've been here before?" Zeva had a crease between her eyebrows

"Yes. I believe that's what I just said" Gregor said quietly

"But how do you know Boots will be with these people?" Creed asked

"Because they'd do anything to save her."  
"Why?" Zeva asked

"Because she's my sister…" Gregor sounded stressed

"And they would want to help your sister because…" Creed needled.

"I don't really know." Gregor said with a finality, although his ears were suddenly glowing a bit redder from Creed's echolocation. He was lying.

"Anyway," he continued, "We're almost there so let's be quiet so they can't detect us from a mile away." He put on a burst of speed and raised his static shawl to cover his mouth and nose. He also pulled up the hood of his black cape, which made Creed wonder why he was being so secretive. If these people would make deals with the Alira to save an annoying, rule-bending nine year old then who in the world were they? And why was Gregor going into 'stealth mode'. Feeling insecure Creed looked over a Zeva, who had mimicked Gregor. All he could see of her was her shawl covered nose poking out from beneath the cowl of her hood. Creed sighed and stuck the static shawl into place, readying himself for the oncoming fight. He reached up and pulled on his short pony tail, tightening the band, and then reached down and pulled up his hood as well. The fabric made it a bit harder to use echolocation, but by clicking every so often Creed could see an oncoming tunnel.  
The entrance became closer and closer and his tension mounted as they swooped down into the dark mouth, but he relaxed when the dark opening turned into a dark tunnel, which he could tell went on for quite a while.  
"Don't let your guard down, Creed. We'll be in Regalia any minute now." Gregor drew his first weapon, a large silver gun from its holster. The chain that it was attached to rattled as he cocked it.

Zeva also drew her weapons. A large bow was produced, its metal form folded up. And she quickly unfolded it and strung it. Her quiver full of large silver arrows was hanging from her back, and she slid her hand up to caress one of the white feathers placed on the ends.

Not wanting to let his captain down Creed quickly placed his hand onto the hilt of his weapon, and he pulled it from behind his back. The large sickle like form was attached to a collapsible handle, and he unfolded the spear like appendage and welcomed his friend into his fingers. The feeling of holding his _genshi_, as it was named felt like coming home. The smooth grooves fit his fingers exactly and the years of practice made him feel like the sickle was a part of him.  
The three warriors neared a bright exit, and tensed as they blasted into the light. They spread far out and Creed searched frantically for any signs of Alira. What he came across was something entirely unexpected.

The dock was beautiful. The handcrafted boats looking fit enough to soar through the clouds upon. The intricate pulley system held the large crafts above the water, and the large fins attached to each boat shimmered in the torch light. The artisanship was amazing in each and every vessel, but it paled in comparison to the large stone circle that rose out of the dock. It was enormous, about as tall as one of the small sky scrapers up above. It seemed to be completely smooth, although the dock seemed to be intricately carved with animals and plants. He stood on Zeus in awe before he looked around enough to see the beautiful wall and the hundreds upon hundreds of homes that made a compelling maze.  
The new scenery was dizzying, but for some reason the whole thing was a bit melancholy. Creed realized that there were no people. No dock workers whistling against the salty wind. No mothers with children. No fathers talking in the streets. There were no people. Where were they?

"Gregor…" He heard Zeva whisper to their motionless leader, "Where is Boots?"

**A/N: OK I am tired of writing for now. I'm sorry the update took so long. I've had so much school work lately, plus I've been working on my real story. But it was really nice to just sit and write about something that I didn't have to completely come up with on my own. I love writing, but you know what I love doing even more? Reading Reviews! Good reviews, bad reviews, reviews because you don't understand something… it's all good. So write me. I promise I'll get back to you as soon as I can!**

**Lee**

**So I think I'm going to start doing a character bio at the end of every chapter! So since Creed told the story today I'm gonna write about him first. **

**Creed Beckett**

**Age: 13 (almost 14 by his standards)**

**Eyes: Grey/Blue**

**Hair: Brown**

**Favorite Color: Silver**

**Lived with Gregor for: 3 years**

**Family: Only child. Orphaned in an Alira raid when he was 9.**

**Self-proclaimed lieutenant of Division 6. **

**He likes the boring life, and would like to study animals. **

**He has a love interest, but would never mention it in a bio.**


	7. Author note!

**Authors Note:**

**Hey I would like to thank every one who read and reviewed my first 6 chapters of Day of Reckoning. Your time and attention is greatly appreciated!**

**  
This is a note to everyone who had questions about the story. I've rewritten the first chapter completely and I think that I have answered many questions!**

**I have tried my very hardest to ask you all what you wanted to happen, what you didn't understand, and what you thought needed clarification and I got back some great stuff!**

**So if anything is still confusing please leave another review and ask me! I really do appreciate everything that everyone is doing to encourage me, but truthfully the best thing you can do is criticize. I want to know where I can grow, so that someday I can become a writer who is proud of their work.**

**Thanks,**

**Emily**


	8. The Battle Begins

**Disclaimer: So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

**A/N: Okay so thanks to all that reviewed. I know that chapter 7 was only an author note, but it was needed so that you all would know to check the first chapter! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this story, you're efforts are really appreciated and I wish there was some way to repay all of you.**

**Also if you are reading this and not reviewing (and I know that there are some of you doing that) then it would be awesome if you would review. I need those reviews to keep me going on the long, author-blocked nights! ANYWHO- Please review as normal; tell me the good, bad, and ugly. Thanks! -Lee**

"Gregor!" Zeva voice echoed in the empty dock, "Why are we here? No one is present."

"Yeah. How do you know Boots is here…" Creed said examining a boat.

"Her tracker says that she is right here." Gregor checked his phone, his eyes focusing on the small blip labeled Boots that was directly over all three of theirs. He looked around the dock. It wasn't odd that the dock didn't hold anyone, it wasn't normally guarded when the river was high, but to have no one on the dock was a bit strange. He wondered if the absence of people from the town's streets indicated night. He stared around trying to remember the town. It was different than he remembered. No people, no sound, and no Boots.

Then a sound far in the distance made a chill go down his spine. It was a sound that he had heard so many years ago; a sound of complete terror coming from many people at one time. He gazed toward the arena and could make out the cavern wall that it lay behind.

He turned to Creed and Zeva who were staring at him and their surrounding, a mixture of terror and curiosity highlighting their faces. He knew that they heard it too, and only had to nod in the direction of the arena for them to follow him up above the abandoned city.

He gazed up at the towering palace and saw the empty balcony of High Hall. He almost couldn't believe he was back.

***

She didn't know when she had passed out but she did know when she came to. The sensation of bouncing came back into her black world and the throbbing in her head became clearer as she awoke from fitful dreams. She remembered falling for what seemed like forever. And then she remember the bouncing feeling again, but it suddenly became darker and she knew that she had blacked out.

Now the bouncing had a different feeling. She didn't really feel jostled now, like they had quit running and were now pacing diligently toward their target. She was still shaken quite a bit, the Alira that carried her seemed to have a limp and she was slung from side to side with every uneven step.

The noises began to come back to her as well. She could hear what sounded like a crowd becoming louder. She wondered where they were taking her. A sweet smell entered her nose. She knew that smell. She had smelled it last time she had sunk into darkness, which probably meant that she was about to…

***

"We know that she is one of yours…" The gruff voice of the Alira said above her. She couldn't see anything as she pulled her heavy eyelids open. She was still in the sack, but now she was lying on it- obviously flung onto the ground. She tried to sit up and found that something heavy was holding her down, presumably one of the monster's feet.

"We are not missing any of our people, except for those proven dead." A female voice full of power spoke somewhere near her. It sounded too familiar but she couldn't place it.

"She is one of your people's, she reeks of this place." The second Alira growled, as Boots began to squirm. The foot squished her a bit and her air whooshed out in a squeak, then the weight lightened and she gasped for a moment before beginning to wiggle out from underneath her captor.

"Then let us see her." The woman said, authority and power behind her voice. She must have been standing directly in front of the two Alira, yet her voice was devoid of fear.

"First we will negotiate the terms of the trade. We will trade this one human for land surrounding your city."

"I don't believe that those terms are fair…" The woman started.

"Are you valuing land over a life of a child?"

"We are not missing any children. I will not even consider your terms until you prove that one of my people is in that sack. It may well be a wild animal, for all you're worth."

"Your highness," The Alira hissed, "We wouldn't do that. We aren't devils you know."Cackling laughter issued from both Alira, and it sounded like they were choking on sandpaper.

"Then let's see this child." The woman 'her highness' said.

The bag was lifted up in the air, the top torn away and suddenly Boots was falling into soft arms. She looked up into the strangest face she had ever seen. She only registered it for a moment, but the silver hair, scars, and vivid veins weren't what caught Boot's attention. It was the eyes. Purple irises brighter than any flower Boot's had ever seen. Eyes that had seen much pain and sorrow. She blinked and her eyes slid down to the girls belt hoping that she was carrying some kind of weapon. Sure enough the slim handle of a dagger protruded from the belt she was wearing. Boots pushed away from the woman, grabbing the dagger, and whirled to meet her kidnappers who were still chuckling with demonic glee.

With a savage war cry she rammed the dagger as far into the leg of one demon as she could. The blade was buried to the hilt but the Alira had begun screeching the moment it entered his flesh. He kicked her and she slammed back into the woman knocking them both to the ground.

Above her a golden bat was hovering, frantically circling the two Alira, and above the giant creature were thousands of strange faces. She guessed that this was the huge crowd she had heard. Then the crowd and the bat were blocked out by something more menacing. A giant scaly foot of the Amphibian looking Alira loomed over them, blood leaking from the knife wound. Boots cringed against the woman who clutched at the girl instinctively.

The Alira's blood curdling scream was cut off and the foot froze in midair, as if the entire monster had stopped in time. Boots looked up in time to see a flash of black graze across the Alira's body before a fountain of blood exploded from his gaping throat. It's head slowly reeled back and it fell backwards with a resounding crash against the ground, the grotesque bloody slit seeping.

'Oh great,' Boots thought sarcastically, 'here he comes to save the day, Again!'

Boot's pushed up and away from the woman on the ground and tried to pull free of the woman skirts. Instead she tripped up on them and ended up on the ground again.  
As soon as the second Alira registered its comrades demise he charged Boots and the woman. Boots looked around and could see an army of people pouring into the arena from surrounding tunnels but knew they wouldn't reach them in time. The girl had freed Boots' feet from the skirts and Boots heard her brother yell, "Luxa!" from ar1es high above them. She looked up in time to see one of his swords dropping, handle down, towards them. The woman grabbed it before it hit the ground, pushing Boots behind her and taking a battle stance.

Luxa? Wasn't that the girl that Gregor talked about in his nightmares? Who was she? Or what was she, for that matter?  
Boot's questions were cut short as the Alira reached them. Gregor and this Luxa girl struck it at the same time and it came crashing to the ground with a spray of blood, writhing in pain, but still alive.

Then Gregor was upon them, pulling them onto ar1es. "Creed, finish it!" Gregor yelled into the shadows. Boots saw another flash of black, but recognized Zeus' colors before they were skyrocketing away from the Alira. The soldiers had stopped approaching and were staring as Creed meticulously sliced very vital areas of the Alira. It died quickly, just as Creed liked it.

ar1es reached the top of the ring of seats and they landed inside of a box that resembled a VIP box in the baseball stadium. People were peering into the boxes windows, but inside they were completely alone.

Gregor and Luxa were staring at each other, and it seemed to Boots like they were appraising each other for sale.

"Well, you've gotten shorter." Gregor said with a small laugh.

"Hey!" Luxa said punching his arm playfully, "You're just too tall…" She trailed off looking sad once again.

"I've missed you." Her brother said, pulling his static shawl over his chin to reveal his face.

"Yeah me too." Luxa said, smiling sadly at him.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…!" Boots said pushing her way in between them, "I've missed you? You know her? What is she? What is this place? Where are we? When did you come here before? Is this still New York? Was that a giant bat? What about those people? Who are they? What are you saying? You've met them? When-" Boot's montage was cut off as the entire world shifted sideways. The earth trembled and the torches all flickered and died, throwing the crowd into dark chaos.

"Stay here!" Gregor's panicked voice was accompanied by strong hands shoving her to the ground. She sat in the dark wondering what was going on and hearing her million questions go round and round in her head, like a soundtrack to the nightmarish sounds coming from the arena.

***

When ar1es pulled out into the open air Gregor could see both Creed and Zeva near the ground battle furiously with a hoard of Alira that seemed to be pouring out of every cave opening. They were holding their own pretty well but he knew that there were just too many Alira to hold off.

Then Gregor saw something that made his blood turn to ice. From the skins of the second dead Alira two upper levels were emerging. They had combined and cloaked themselves for the purpose of tricking with the eyes but were now separating. From their smooth scales and huge heads Gregor knew immediately that they were both large snakes. Level 13.

**A/N: Okay so I left it at a cliff hanger because I want some reviews!! Please if you like where this is going then leave a review, or I won't write!**

**Okay so another character bio. **

**Zeva (has no last name)**

**Age: 16**

**Eyes: Black**

**Hair: Black**

**Ethnicity: Middle Eastern**

**Favorite color: Deep red**

**Lived with Gregor for: 6 months**

**Family: Outcast when she became a rager. Was saved by an American soldier and was brought to America on a visa to live in a boarding school (upon which she promptly ran away and Gregor found her fighting in the streets.) Has no known family.**

**Would like to learn more English, although it is hard. She sometimes gets words mixed up.**

**Hoverboard: Red on top, black on bottom, oval shaped with triangular wings; name: Fornax- definition: it's a constellation, it literally translates to furnace. **


	9. Level 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Suzanne Collins' books, nor do I own her characters. It is a depressing day…**

**A/N: I have so many great expectations for this story, but I can't finish it without your help. Please even if it is a few words- leave a review. Tell me what you liked- and especially what you didn't like **** You guys are my driving force!  
**

**Guess what!!!!  
IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!! IT'S SNOWING!!**

**I live in Texas- so this is a BIG deal!!!!!!!!!!**

**Merry Christmas!!**

"Okay guys," Lizzie said as they entered the tunnel going towards Regalia, "according to all the trackers they should be just ahead."

"Are we going to fight in a tunnel?" Dalton, the oldest boy, asked. He had recently turned 14 and was easily becoming the ladies man of the group. His sister, Chloe, hit him in the shoulder, "Weren't you listening earlier? There's some kind of town up here."

"Are we there yet?" Rugger said, leaning far out of the small side car on Lizzie's hover board. She reprimanded him for not sitting still and he quickly pulled himself upright.

Matt and Mark were swooping around the tunnel, trying to knock each other off of their boards.

"Hey, grow up guys!" Dakota said, the most grown up eleven year old Lizzie knew.

They stuck their tongues out at her. They were probably the most immature ten year olds Lizzie knew. The levels of maturity in her technology team made things a little hard.

"Hey, Lizzie," Kayla's sweet voice drifted over to her. The small dark haired girl was pulling out her spear. She had a tense look over her round dark face, "I think we're here."  
She was right. The tunnel was ending and the light from the end was spilling towards them quickly.

The 8 hover boards burst from the tunnel entrance and slowed instantly.

"Where are they?" Devon asked, his small body shaking with his barely controlled abilities. He couldn't control his raging very well yet, although he never had trouble turning it on, making him eligible to be on the team fighting alongside the older kids. He was only eleven, but he was already taller than Lizzie, who was 14.

"I think they're in the arena." Lizzie said listening to the sounds coming from that direction, "But I don't know what's going on…?"

Suddenly and earsplitting roar shook through the sound barrier. The four ragers immediately moved in front of the younger kids.

"GO!," Lizzie said, "Be careful!"

Devon turned to his little brother, Rugger and hugged him quickly.

"I-I don't want you to go." Rugger said tearfully.

"I'll be back, I promise." Devon said zooming off to catch the older kids.

"TELL GREGOR I'LL MEET YOU GUYS IN HIGH HALL" Lizzie yelled toward their retreating forms, not knowing if she would ever see them again.

* * *

The level 13 Alira were Gregor's biggest problems and he didn't know how he would get out of the situation without massive casualties- from his team and the Regalians both.

He could see both level 13 clambering out of the reptilian body on the ground. They must have been hiding in the lower form so they wouldn't attract attention. The scales peeled back from their furry forms, and they reared away from the serpentine shell.

With one hand he pulled one of his swords out while the other reached deep into one of his pockets for his flare gun. He raised it high above his head and shot it into the towering stalactites. The world was illuminated as he pulled the trigger and in the red glow of the flame he could see the panic of the people in the stands. He worked his way high enough and began to shout to get their attention.

"HEY!" He yelled knowing that in their panic he would have to get them calm before he could make them follow his command, "HEY! LISTEN UP!" The combination of his flare gun and his voice quieted the mass and he began to delegate orders, "OKAY! WHO HAS A SWORD?" He glanced around as almost the entire crowd raised their hands.  
'Alright then…' he thought, feeling satisfaction.

"OKAY! IF YOU DON'T HAVE A SWORD START FILING OUT! WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST! STAY CALM AND DON'T PUSH! WE'LL GET OUT OF HERE TOGETHER!! WHEN YOU LEAVE GO TOWARD THE PALACE!"

The people in the stands looked at him, hovering above the maddening fight below on a slender board of metal. He looked small in comparison to the huge monsters that were beginning to gain ground on the two ragers below. A few people started to move, but many hesitated.

"DO WHAT HE SAYS!" A sneering and horrifyingly familiar voice yelled. He looked down and saw the familiar form of his favorite rat running onto the field. Ripred threw himself into action against one of the 13's, taking out many of the lower level Alira as he went.

Gregor laughed manically at the familiarity of the rat's movements. He still had it.

Gregor saw Luxa and many other Regalians drop onto their flier bonds and noticed that more rats were pouring out onto the field.

The Alira were slowly dwindling in numbers although there were many casualties on the field; a mixture of rats, bats, and human forms littered the ground.

Gregor checked once more to see that the Regalians were following his orders and then twisted down to dive into the scene.

Someone had retrieved new torches from somewhere and they were burning brightly. Some been dropped onto the Alira- whose greasy fur had ignited instantly, illuminating the ground.

Gregor drew his other sword from its sheath as he dove toward the free Level 13, who had been gnawing on a rat. He slashed at it as he drew near, pulling its attention from the rat and to its next target.

He pulled back to assess his new opponent. It was a hulking beast, most likely deriving from a monkey, or some form of ape. Its arms were elongated grotesquely and the claws attached to them were as long as his swords at least. The bloody fangs were encrusted with dried flesh and insects and as it screeched at him he saw layers and layers of teeth filing back into its throat like soldiers in line for battle.

He took note of its tail, as long and fat as a boa constrictor, and probably as strong. He slowly slid into rager mode, feeling his body tense and then relax with the change of perception. His vision distorted and he saw very few vital spots in the 13's armor.

He glanced quickly over his shoulder, immediately spotting Creed and Zeva, both fighting at full force beautifully. With a deep satisfaction he realized that they were killing more Alira than many of the Regalian soldiers combined. Not that it was a competition or anything. He saw Ripred, and knew that the rat wouldn't need or accept any help against his deadly opponent. And he quickly checked on Luxa, knowing that his queen would be fine, and finding himself mildly surprised by her deadly power.

He turned his attention back to the beast that was gazing at him with yellow eyes, the lashes encrusted with mucus.

He clanged his swords together, snarling furiously at the monster as it leaped at him. He dodged it easily and sank one of his blades into its fur. The grease on its fur had matted it into an armor and his sword did little damage.

He parried as it slashed at him, taking off a few of the claws with his next strike. Then he dived in earnest, slashing at its snarling face. He pulled out of the dive smiling at the fresh blood coating his sword. The next few moments were a blur of screams, blood, and adrenaline. He remembered pulling up from one attack and finding that the rest of his team had come into the arena. Dalton, Devon, Kayla, and Chloe were flying into battle, their wild faces showing determination and amazement.

With 8 ragers (He was now including Ripred in his team) fighting against the Alira he knew that this would be over soon.

He fought well he thought, only once did the monster's claws rake his arm, and he found that he could still use it. Within minutes he had found the opening he needed. With a final thrust he shoved his blades deep into the monsters neck through a vital point under it's chin. Freezing blood spilled out from it, but he didn't hesitate to slash the rest of the neck open, making a large slit across the Alira's throat.

It dropped to the ground with its final cry of pain silenced violently. He turned inspecting the carnage around him. The last few Alira were being disposed of and many of the people who had been fighting had now moved upwards to assist the escape of the civilians. Ripred was covered in dark blood, but was currently fighting the last few Alira. Gregor surveyed his team. He counted 4 of his team members; two were missing. Creed, Zeva, Devon, and Kayla were all standing guard as the medic team carted off wounded soldiers.  
Where were Chloe and Dalton?  
With a feeling of dread he saw Dalton hovering over a form on the ground, pressing his hands into it. Bright red blood coated his arms as he pumped up and down against the motionless chest. Chloe was sprawled upon the ground, her wild curly red hair flying away from her small face. She had a large claw sticking directly through her torso and with an ache in his heart Gregor realized there was little hope for her. He rushed over on ar1es and reached Dalton and his fallen comrade.

The young rager was sobbing as he pumped at his sister's chest. Gregor called the rest of the team over, knowing that they all needed to be there to send her off. He knelt down brushing a stray streak of blood from her pale cheeks.

"Dalton," he said quietly, "Dalton…" He didn't know what to say to him. The group gathered slowly, some still shaking from raging. Their lives were thrown into disarray with the fight, but they had never had this crisis before. Death was always a looming presence in their life, but if Chloe was gone then she would be the first on their team to pass on.

Dalton stopped his pounding and rocked back on his heels, his big sister's name on his lips. He sobbed for her, knowing that his only living family was gone.

There was a group of underlanders' assembling but they stayed separate from Gregor's intimate group. He had lost sight of Luxa but Ripred was helping to clear away the bodies before the toxic gas leaked from the Alira.

There was movement below him and the entire group jerked as Chloe's chest jerked upward as she gasped for breath. Dalton was immediately hovering over her, calling out her name desperately. She coughed and blood dribbled out from her mouth.

But she was _alive._

"MEDIC!" Gregor yelled to the underlanders, "WE NEED A MEDIC OVER HERE!"

He had never been happier to say those words.

**A/N: So I think I wrote more than normal in this chapter. I liked my battle scene, and Liperfun gave me the great idea to have someone die. Well, since I couldn't choose who to kill I decided to have someone ALMOST die! Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!**

**Oh and did I mention that it's SNOWING!!! My life is so good right now!  
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you have a blessed holiday and that you eat WAY too much!**

**If you have any questions, comments, suggestions…. PLEASE REVIEW! I gave you the gift of an update- you should give me the gift of a review!**

**Lee**

**Character Bio**

**Chloe Holloway**

**Age: 17**

**Eyes: Blue  
Hair: Red and curly**

**Ethnicity: White**

**Favorite Color: Blue**

**Family: Dalton is her brother. Their parents died, and they lived by themselves for a while before joining the team**

**Been with Gregor for: 2 years**

**She is the oldest girl, but is on Gregor's team instead of leading a team of her own.  
She wanted to be a model before she was orphaned.**

**She likes to play the piano**

**Hover board: Named Cygnus (Swan). It is completely white, but it has a cloaking technique for night flights. **


	10. Never Trust Purple

**A/N: So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

**A/N: Okay so somewhere along the lines my chapter 10 got confused with chapter 1. For all of those people thoroughly confused here is the real chapter 10. I know that you won't be able to review if you already have (Jessi- I thought you would have PM'd me first when you realized that there was a problem :P) But don't hesitate to PM me and tell me what you think!**

The light was flickering above her as she stirred, cushioned by sweet smelling sheets. She blinked and gazed around at the brightly lit room, the torches casting a yellow glow upon the smooth stone walls.

_Wait…torches?_

Chloe eyes focused and she tried to sit up in bed only to feel an excruciating pain coming from her stomach. With a cry she felt herself black out.

The light was flickering above her as she stirred, cushioned by sweet smelling sheets. She blinked and stared at the man standing above her. He was carrying what seemed to be a glass of dark colored liquid. He smiled warmly at her and she felt her insides grow cold. No matter how friendly he seemed, she would never trust a transparent man.

She was weaker than normal or she would kick his translucent butt. He unfortunately didn't interpret her glares to be death threats and promptly made her drink the disgusting stuff. She was cursing hoarsely at him when she felt herself black out again.

The light was flickering above her as she stirred, cushioned y sweet smelling- _alright enough already! _

She felt her stomach with gentle fingers and the great wad of bandages wrapped around her. She looked around the room from the small stone basin in the corner full of clear water to the distant door. No one else was there and her door was closed tight. She slowly lifted her head and scanned around the room before plopping back down upon her pillows. With a huff that made her stomach hurt she closed her eyes again this time slowly drifting off…

The light was flickering. And she hated it.

And the translucent one was there again. This time she found her voice and was quick to take the lead in the conversation, "Who are you? Where are we? What am I doing here? Huh? Why am I hurt? Did you and your other clear skin bozo's do this to me? Well did you?!"  
He looked at her, smiling, and pulled up a stone chair.

"You're Chloe, right?" His eyes were kind, but purple. Never trust purple.

She nodded anyway, "Yeah who are you?"

"My name is Howard and I live here in Regalia."

"Regalia?" Suddenly the memories came flooding back. _Alarms, flying, fighting, soaring, weapons drawn, blood pounding, heart racing, screams…and red… lots and lots of red…_

"What are you?" She asked and he had the nerve to laugh.

"I'm a human," he laughed, "I just look different from you and the rest of your overlanders."

"Wait, what?"  
"Overlander is the term we use for people who live on the surface of earth. I live underneath it so I am an underlander. It is not difficult once the vocabulary is explained, right?"  
"I guess… but why are you down here? And why did the Alira bring Boots here?"

"We have lived down here for a very long time. As for the Alira, I don't really know why they brought her here. Probably to trade her for something they wanted. I was not at the arena but I heard of your fight."

"Oh… hey! Where's my team? Are they okay?!" she panicked imagining all the horrible things those level 13s could have done to her family… to Dalton…

"They're all fine. At the moment I believe they've decided to rest in the queen's apartments. But if you would like I can call one of them down here-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… did you just say the _queen_?"

* * *

A knock came at the door and Gregor stood, stretching sleepily from the bed. He pulled back the curtain to find the smiling face of Mareth just inches from his own. The man was now eyelevel to Gregor, who was used to looking up towards his tall friend. Mareth burst through the curtain and practically annihilated Gregor with one of his famous bear hugs. Gregor pulled out of it, breathless and laughing.

"Mareth! How have you been?" Gregor asked his old friend.

"I have been well, Overlander. I have wished that you would come visit us, although I'm afraid our prophecies may have scared you away." His voice was deep and he radiated happiness. He was almost exactly as Gregor remembered him, although his hair was more gray than silver now. His face bore newer scars, and he seemed to carry himself differently. Gregor could see that behind his eyes an entire new wisdom had unfolded, although at the moment Mareth looked like an excited young boy.

"Well you know… life just…" He trailed off not knowing how to express his reasons for staying away. So much had happened and he wished that he could tell Mareth everything.

"Hello?" A voice came from behind the curtain, "Gregor? Are you awake?"

Her hand slipped around the curtain and pulled it back delicately as she peered inside. When she saw the two men standing there queen Luxa smiled and walked into the room.

They both greeted her warmly and with a wink Mareth patted Gregor on the back, "I'll see you later, 'kid'." He exited with great haste as Luxa rolled her eyes while blushing.

Gregor went and sat on the large bed motioning for her to do the same. She came and sat down saying, "So do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Uh… let's go with the good news first."

"Alright then… Your friend, I believe her name is Chloe, she has awoken in the hospital and is doing much better."

She cringed a bit inside when his eyes lit up at the news. She suppressed it and moved on, "But the bad news is that the counsel wishes an audience with you." Luxa looked stricken and Gregor laughed. They got up and made their way slowly towards the counsel room.

"I thought they had all died in the war with the rats?" He said admiring a fine carving on the wall, taking his time. Luxa didn't seem to mind dilly-dallying so she stopped as well to consider his question, "Well I suppose we were without a real elected counsel until I was about fourteen. By then all the peace treaties had been signed and we were sitting calmly again."  
"So you were by yourself for most of that time," Gregor cast a sideways glance at her.

"No. I mean I have the best support system in the world. Vikus, who by the way wants to spend time with you when you're free, Mareth has been wonderful, let's see… Oh, and Stellovet!"  
"Stellovet has been _helpful?" _ Gregor asked suspiciously, wondering if Luxa was an imposter.

"Yes, you see in my early teenage years Stellovet found that my way of dressing and taking care of myself were not up to her standards so she took it upon herself to become an advisor to the queen." Luxa said in a high and snooty voice, "She is now in charge of what I wear and what my hair looks like, and what kind of… mascara I use." She switched back to her regular voice, "This mascara is a very strange substance. Stellovet says that she imports it, but I know that Ripred just has his little friends get some from the overland. How else would she get her hands on it? Anyway, I think it makes her feel like she's better than me because she knows more about high fashion- and I think that it's good for her to have a place to put her high pedestal on!" Luxa stuck the tip of her tongue out of her wide grin.

"Are you wearing any mascara?" Gregor asked looking at her face. He silver eyelashes were long, but he didn't think that they had been tampered with.  
"No. It makes my eyes feel so heavy and it impairs my vision sometimes. So whenever I can I wash it off!"

"Well you look beautiful without it."  
There was a moment of awkward silence before they both said, "Anyway…Oh! You go first!"

"That was weird."  
"Yes very strange indeed," She laughed as he pulled a face, "So what have you learned from Boots about the Alira taking her?"  
"Not much really. I talked with her earlier after we had Chloe situated and she said that all she can remember is being in the sack. She can't remember them talking to anyone but you, and I just can't figure out _why_ they would take her here, or at least how they would have the intelligence to know where to take her!"

"We cannot figure out why the Alira would be here. Or why they would bring your sister, mostly unharmed to us. They wanted to trade, but as you said-how would they know of her connections to us?"  
"I guess they smelled this place on her, or on me. The upper levels are smart, especially two level 13's, but it was the work of a higher level of intelligence to construct a trade." He sighed and stretched feeling his back pop, satisfyingly.

"We have never encountered monsters of such caliber. They are normally about level 3's. Our armies are not prepared to face horrible creatures. And Lizzie said that there are more levels past 13?"  
"There are 14 levels," Gregor said although this news barely calmed his friend, "They level up depending on how much they have killed and eaten."  
"We have never really been able to figure out exactly what they are. They seem to overtake mostly rats, although mice and other beasts have been transformed as well…" She made eye contact with him and he saw the intense pain behind her beautiful purple irises, "I don't know what we'll do if more powerful ones come."  
"So you've never fought the upper levels? They're not down here?" She shook her head.

"It's strange because they seemed to originate here," She said, "We have reason to believe that they came from the uncharted lands, but they only really become powerful in the overland."  
"It's probably because we have a wide variety of animals and people to infest."  
"People?!"  
"Yes…," He lost himself in thought for a moment, "Level 14 Alira are infested human beings."

"But how!?"  
"When an Alira kills and eats people it can take the form of another. It seems like a level 6 could kill a small group of people and then have enough power to transfer into the body of another, more powerful creature. We're thinking that it's some kind of demon thing, but we can never know. All we do know is that it's not a disease. It thinks and it grows…"  
"So a level 14… does it look hideous?"  
"No actually. When the demons possess any other level of animal then the animal is maimed and it grows huge rapidly, but with humans it seems to infest the body and control it by entering society and killing that way." She looked confused so he continued, "My father had a theory. He thinks that since animals don't really have souls then the demons could only infest the body, making it reflect the demon, but since a human has a soul the body of the human can stay the same because the soul is pushed out of it. Even if you take the demon out of the body of a 14 there is no life in it."  
"So a human will die if the demon contacts it? They don't feel it?"  
"We don't believe so. They have no heartbeat, they don't breathe. The blood in their veins cools and eventually hardens, but they move on, killing and eating as much as they can."  
She looked at him, her face a mask of horror.  
"So it could be anyone? You wouldn't know that they had been infested until they were attempting to kill you?"  
"Yes. That's what makes the level 14 Alira so dangerous."  
"Have you ever fought one?"  
"No. Actually if you fight one you would be fighting two. They never hunt, fight, or eat alone. They seem to be clustered together, the demons may infest a married couple, or business partners, a mother and a child - people who would be seen together a lot. So they are naturally pack oriented."  
"So they're not in New York City?"  
"Oh yes they are! We've found many bodies, or parital bodies strewn around with human teeth marks in them. We've followed our radar screens out into the town when it alerts us of an Alira's presence, but we never find them when we get there. They are amazing at moving without being seen, and blending into a crowd, and they also retain any cognitive abilities of the human they infest. So let's say I was infested. The demon would know how to rage. Or if you were infested the demon would be a master at fighting on a bat, plus they would know everything about this kingdom and what you would need to say and do to run it." She stared at him taking it all in.

"So those two level 13's were in the body of a level 8, right?"  
"Yes. When that happens we call it a conjunction. Two levels, it doesn't matter which ones, can combine and make another level. They seem to use this to make themselves look more impressive than they are or to hide their appearances, but when the body they are hiding in is killed they are forced to take on their original forms, as you saw earlier."  
They had almost reached the counsel room, Gregor recognizing more of the palace as they moved upwards.

"So if two level 6's wanted to become a level 14…?" She let the question hang.

"No. Level 14's cannot hide themselves as lower levels, nor can lower levels camouflage themselves as a level 14. We don't know why, it's just the way it is."

She nodded towards a curtained doorway and Gregor realized that they had arrived. He could hear voices behind the large blue curtain, and wanted to get it over with, but Luxa grabbed his arm and pulled him into a small alcove.  
"Gregor, I meant to tell you earlier, but then we began talking about all of this, but I think you should know something before you go in there." She had a look in her eyes that he didn't like. He'd seen that look before…

"What is it?"  
"The counsel doesn't want to see you because of the Alira…" She coughed and looked around the corner, making sure no one was there.

"Why do they want to see me?" She glanced almost guiltily at him which made him protest even louder, "Luxa!"

"Okay. They wish to see you because of something we have recently found… something that I don't think you're going to like…"  
He was silent, almost predicting what words were about to come out of her mouth.

"Gregor. We've found another prophecy."

**A/N: Okay I need some help on this prophecy!!!!!!!! Please I am begging anyone with any amount of dignity left in their sorry souls to review! I need rhymers, and prophets, and cliffhanger-junkies, and anyone who likes GLUXA!**


	11. Prophecy

**Disclaimer : So I guess you've already read that I don't own Suzanne Collins' books or her characters, but it seems fitting that you will read it again since I had to write it again. **

Make haste my children dear

The time is drawing near

And now inside my tomb

This prophecy shall loom

Fourteen Brands of evil there

Only one in Satan's lair

Only one has the key

To fulfill this prophecy

A long hidden doom

Will rise again soon

To destroy upper and under

With their demonic plunder

So call the caller

Seek the seeker

Awaken our warrior

Rekindle our Hope

By his blood the beast survives

Now it will take so many lives

Only one has the key

To kill the Beast, his destiny

**Author's Note: Okay? So what did you think of the new prophecy? I really didn't feel like writing it seeing as I didn't get ANY reviews with helpful hints from practically the last two chapters, but I wrote it...**

**Anyway I really was hoping to get some feedback from some people, and hopefully get some help on this prophecy thing, but I had to do it all on my own… :( **

**Oh well, But please don't hesitate to review and tell me what you like, dislike, think you can improve, think no-one can improve… I would be so grateful!**

**OH! And this is the first thing that I wrote in 2010!! I am so excited because I graduate this year!! WOOT!**

**Okay anyway- HaPpY nEw YeArS!1!1!1!1!1!1!**


	12. In the Shadow of a Tomb

**Disclaimer: okay so I don't own TUC or any of Suzanne's characters… but if you're good readers then I might borrow them more often.**

**Author's note: Please review!! I worked really hard on this chapter and even had some peer reviewing before posting!  
I hope that everyone had a great new year! I know I haven't posted in a long time I had a HUGE competition to study for plus my mom was constantly nagging me about my college apps, but now I'm done with both so I should be writing more!  
Oh and if you haven't read them yet you should check out my other series about TUC- The awaited joy and a mother's sacrifice! They're a couple of one-shots about Hazard and I really like how they turned out!  
As always please review and thanks for reading,**

Gregor sat in silence remembering, speculating, imagining. What did it mean? Was it real? Why had this happened now?

Luxa had explained it to him but he had been somewhat in a trance. A traumatic shock would be more accurate but he didn't really like to complain.

They had recently been exploring the passage in the old nursery, the one in the turtle and had discovered a hidden passageway. The spiral staircase let far up into the palace and ended near the top in a section that was thought to be only solid rock. At the end of the stairs their torches had revealed a tomb.

It was Bartholomew of Sandwiches'.

The tomb was a small building built into the stone and the explorers soon had the door to the tomb open. They found an entire room with the same prophecy etched upon it and a large open stone tomb at the center.

Apparently Sandwich had locked himself in the tomb writing their doom upon the walls until he met his own. The crazy git.

Now looking upon the broken body of the man who had predicted the saddest times of his true home Gregor wondered why. Why had he spent so much effort into writing this poem when it was not a very reliable hiding spot? It was not easily accessible and he had obviously wanted it to be found.

Then the prophecy itself was troublesome. The first stanza was pretty predictable for Sandwiches' work. Gloom and doom… but the rest of it really bothered him…

"Fourteen Brands of evil there

Only one in Satan's lair

Only one has the key

To fulfill this prophecy"

This part was a bit confusing but he thought he understood it. The fourteen brands of evil were the Alira, or at least he guessed it was. But only one in satan's lair was a little fuzzy. The Alira were presumed to be demons residing in the bodies of their victims. Did Sandwich mean to imply that there was even Satan to deal with? That would be a little difficult…

The only one has the key… Gregor sighed inwardly. It was so generic to all of Sandwichs' other prophecies about him… Gloom, doom, call the warrior, you may live, or you might just die…

He could feel a huge headache radiating from behind his eyes.

The third stanza was almost easy to understand. There was something coming that would destroy all of the Underland AND the overland… yeah, what else is new?  
"So call the caller

Seek the seeker

Awaken our warrior

Rekindle our Hope"

He shut his eyes imaging all the lovely things Ripred was going to get out of this…

"By his blood the beast survives

Now it will take so many lives

Only one has the key

To kill the Beast, his destiny"

'Great' Gregor thought reading through the next two lines. This was really the source of his headache. He was obviously the cause of the Alira or he would die to help them with his blood but either way many creatures would die…

He was really getting tired of this prophecy thing. The last two lines he could almost predict as well. Although the killing of Alira hadn't ever bothered him. There were no 'good alira' unlike the rats who had good members of their race. Ripred was good for a rat. Alira were bad no matter what. So killing the beast was the least of his problems.

The light from the blue oil lamps made his vision blurry. Or maybe it was the headache. Luxa had told him that all tombs when visited were lit with blue oil as some sort of ritual. It showed respect or something. He slid down to the floor and sucked in the musty air permeating around him.

After a brief meeting with the council (they didn't really have anything to talk about until he had read the prophecy so they let him go pretty quickly) he and Luxa had ascended to Sandwichs' tomb and he had read the hack-jobs last concoction.

It wasn't that he believed in this prophecy. He was living proof that the skeleton lying a few feet away from him belonged to a lunatic with a death wish for everyone around him. Yet he knew that things wouldn't settle down until he had killed the beast or whatever he was supposed to do in the end.

At least this one didn't have some strange ending like well if the warrior fails you all die. Gregor was at least thankful for this. It was just a Ripred had once said. If he could figure out a reasonable way to explain this prophecy then the Regalians would concoct some weird translation that would take forever to untangle. The only problem was he didn't know how to translate this prophecy into anything that sounded reasonable or even sane, really.

He officially hated Sandwichs' guts. Even if they were decayed.

He heard a knock on the stone doors leading out of the tomb and got up slowly to push one of the heavy doors open. Luxa stood there, her eyes shadowed by the strange blue light. She looked paler in the softer color, and her hair shimmered as she moved into the room.

They didn't say anything for a while just stood there looking at each other. Then he reached out involuntarily and touched a lock of her silver hair. She jumped a little as his fingers made contact but didn't pull away.

"It's longer." He said, running his fingers to the end of her hair, which ended at her shoulders in a gentle curve inward.

"Well it has been seven years."

"Yeah… seven years…"  
"Four months…"  
"And twenty seven day…" he finished for her.

She looked up and he could see the surprise and laughter behind her eyes that soon spilled from her lips. He laughed too.

She suddenly turned toward Sandwichs' open grave stepping into the brightest ring of light to pay her respects to the founder of her city. Her crown, while still a small circlet, was more ornate than the one he remembered and glittered as she bowed her head.

He wondered if she was praying to Batty Bartholomew. He walked to stand next to her and glanced over at her face. She had been staring at Bartholemew but when she felt his gaze she looked up into his eyes. He felt himself blush as their eyes met.

'_don't think about it- don't think about it-don't think about it' _He frantically searched for a topic of conversation, "So… did you read the prophecy?"  
"Yes. I was one of the few that found it."  
"Why do you think-"

"Sandwich did this? We expect that he knew he was dying but didn't want this prophecy to be known about until later in our history. I assume that he knew that we would find the prophecy only days before the return of the warrior."  
He turned back to her suddenly bristling at her words. He felt uncomfortable surrounded by the words that labeled him the warrior, the rager, the killer.

He felt her eyes on his face and looked at her imploringly. He was so confused.

"I do know that Sandwich did want you to take this seriously. He wrote it forty seven times!" Luxa came to stand with him as he scanned the walls his eyes tracing over the neat handwriting that spelled out the doom of his world.

"God, Luxa! What if I can't do it?"  
"What kill the Alira? I think you can. And must."  
"No I mean… what if I… what if I can't stay here?"

"Why could you not?" Her face cracked into a smirk, "Are your parents expecting you home for dinner?"

He cringed instantly as an image of dark blood, and twisted limbs swam to the front of his brain.

"Gregor? Are you feeling well?"  
He realized that he had been grinding his teeth together, and had his sweaty hands clutched into tight fists at his sides, "Yeah, I'm fine." He felt a little queasy with the memory of _that_ running through his mind.

"…They were on a picnic." Luxa said quietly.

"What?" Gregor broke through his sadness to look back at his best friend.

"My parents. They were ambushed by gnawers on a picnic." She looked at him and he could see the tears welling up, "I was going to go with them but I got sick and had to stay home. They promised to take me the next time they went but…" She cut herself off taking deep breaths to suppress her feelings that were too close to the surface, "Gregor- you do know that you may tell me whatever you like but I know that talking about something that hurts is very hard to do."

She turned away and he tried not to stare as she wiped her eyes furiously. He took a deep breath thanking any and everything for creating such a wonderful and beautiful person.

"I- I want to talk about it." He said realizing that he did. It was not something that he normally did. He sat through hours of Lizzie and Boots crying into his shoulders reassuring them that they would meet again someday, but he had never really told anyone about how he was feeling. All the pain. All the terror. And especially all the guilt that made him feel sick whenever he thought of his parents' end.

But in the soft light, in the quiet room, with the security of privacy and a very dear friend he felt like he may be able to share some of his pain.

They sat against the wall farthest from the door, so that they were in the shadow of Sandwich's tomb. He gathered himself and started to tell her about the worst time of his life.

"I was at a party in my Sophomore year of High School. I had told my parents that I was spending the night at Larry's and he had told his parents that he was crashing at my place. Then we went over to some seniors' house. I don't know why I did it. Well yeah I guess I do. It was the cool thing to do. I mean everyone was going to be at that party and I just… I just wanted to fit in for once." He looked over at Luxa who was listening intently though he wasn't sure if she was understanding all of his words.

"I got home and found them. My parents. They were just…" He felt his heart racing as it struggled to get away from the pain digging itself into his chest.

"What about your sisters." Luxa was trying to help him and he was grateful.

"They were both there. They both saw it," he steadied himself, "It was a level ten. Lizzie doesn't like to talk about it but she says that when it got into the apartment dad told Lizzie to run with Boots. They ran into the kitchen and hid in the pantry, but they heard everything. When they came out both of my parents were dead and the Alira was gone."

They were both silent as they contemplated his words, the lights in their oil casings crackled as sputtered, flickering shadows across Luxa's creased brow.

"Lizzie said that it was some kind of albino cat so I guess it would be pretty obvious if I had killed it. I just can't find it!" He slammed his fist into the ground as he felt the tears start to leak out of the corners of his eyes. He hated himself for this weakness, but he was more ashamed of himself for not being there.

"I just know that if I had been there it would have been different-" His voice caught in his throat and Luxa moved over to wrap her arms around his neck. He buried his face into her shoulder and held on tight as the sobs wracked his body. His fault, his own fault. It was all his fault.

Her hair was soft on his cheek and her arms were strong around him. She was more comforting to him than she could ever imagine, and for the first time since his parents had been murdered he felt at home. She pulled back some to whisper in his ear. Her face was close to his and he could feel hot tears running down her face and mixing with his.

"Gregor," she said, "They loved you so much. And I know you won't believe me now but someday you'll understand that it's not your fault." Her words were quiet, her tone reserved, yet somewhere deep in his heart he knew that she was telling him the truth. Even if he couldn't find a way to feel that way for himself, he at least knew that she had gone through something similar. She was the perfect counsel.

He leaned in and gently, ever so gently, brushed her lips with his own. He could feel her breath on his lips and it tasted so sweet but he didn't move. This was her decision.

He looked through his tear-thick eyelashes to gaze into hers and found so much emotion staring back at him. Then with a flash of mischief in her eyes she said, "Wouldn't Sandwich be mad that we were doing this here?"  
"Uh.. I think he already knows…"  
The last thing he saw before his eyes slid shut was her beautiful half smile as she leaned in further.

**Author's Note: Okay so I officially am happy with myself. I really like this chapter, not only because it is chock full of GLUXA (my favorite pairing btw) but also because I feel like I'm really getting to the heart of the story- FINALLY! I really like this chapter and it took me a long time to write. I hope you enjoy!  
Oh and please take a few minutes to review. I just want a sentence or two of good? Bad? Why?**

**That's all folks!**

**Oh! And since I haven't put a character bio into the last few chapters (just cause I'm lazy and forgot) I'll put two into todays!**

**Dakota Helm**

**Age: 11**

**Eyes: Brown  
Hair: Blonde. Her white patch hides behind her right ear, although it is noticeable when she wears a pony tail.  
Ethnicity: White**

**Favorite Color: Pink**

**Family: Her family abandoned her but she found a few years ago that they had been killed by the Alira after she was left at an orphanage.  
Been with Gregor: 1 year**

**She really likes to sing and write songs although she is shy about it and makes her creations in private.**

**She really looks up to Lizzie and loves being on Lizzie's tech team.**

**She fights with a katana (A Japanese sword) that has a pink cloth tied around the hilt. (Although it doesn't get much use as she doesn't go out onto the field.)  
Hoverboard: Blue with black tipped wings. Her name is Lyra (Lyre- a musical instrument like a harp thing)**

*******

**Dalton Holloway**

**Age: 14**

**Eyes: Green**

**Hair: Brown. His white patch on the back of his head at his neck line.  
Ethnicity: White  
Favorite Color: White**

**Family: Chloe's little brother. After his parents died he lived with Chloe before they joined Gregor's family.**

**Been with Gregor for: 2 years**

**He is a real ladies man and is always sneaking out of the firehouse to hook up with some random girl. He doesn't want anything serious he just likes the hunt. If he could he would major in flirting.**

**He fights with a**

**Hoverboard: In the Overland he prefers a motorcycle but his hover board is Deep Green with white tipped wings. Its name is Cetus (Sea monster). **


	13. Meet the Ragers

**Disclaimer: *Gurg* Only Suzanne Collins can claim the underland. The rest of us just bask in her glory… like small screaming toddlers wishing that they were bigger and better…**

**Author's note: Please don't kill me for the boring chapter. I'm really sick today so I don't have much umph in my writing… I also wouldn't mind a few hundred comments. Yes I am talking to all of you who read this and don't reply. It's really annoying and please for my sake and for the sake of my health- tell me what you think!! **

**GAH! My head is about the explode. I swear I feel worse than a few minutes ago… ugh the ups and downs of bed rest….**

"So- they're ALL ragers?" Luxa whispered furiously as they entered Chloe's hospital room. Gregor nodded in reply as he waved a greeting to his family, who were clustered around their friend's bed.

"Oh, Gregor!" Lizzie hugged him tightly, "You'll never guess what I just heard from Howard!!"  
Boots ran up and spouted, "You told me that _I_ could tell him!"  
"Well, you'll take too long!"  
"Gregor! Guess what!?"

"THERE'S ANOTHER-"

"PROPHECY!!!!!" His sister's finished in unison. The rest of the family stood staring at the two sisters who were currently gasping for air. Gregor sighed and said, "Yeah, I've heard."

They looked dumbfounded.

"Uh, Gregor?" Creed said, drawing their leader's attention, "Who's that?" He blushed as he pointed to Luxa who had been residing in the doorway a slight smile on her face.

"I am Queen Luxa," she said walking forward, "I'm glad you're finding Regalia hospitable."  
"Q-Q-Q-Q-Q-QUEEN!!" Most of the group looked extremely surprised but Luxa only portrayed her glee with a quick jab to her crown. She looked a bit cocky, but Gregor knew she was showing off for them so that their abilities wouldn't make them feel superior. This reaction was probably from years of having to work alongside Ripred, who was a very sarcastic, very powerful rager.  
"Luxa. I don't believe you have met any of my new family." Gregor pulled up a chair and Luxa sat down in the circle, gazing around at the new faces.

He pointed to boy who had spoken first, "This is Creed."

"H-hello, your highness." He looked shocked and slightly embarrassed for his earlier outburst.

"Luxa will do." She said with a nod. Gregor motioned to a shorter boy holding onto Chloe's hand, "Dalton and his sister Chloe." The tall girl smiled at Luxa from the bed, her bright red curls spilling over the pillow like swirling water.

"This is Devon." Gregor motioned to the youngest boy on his fighting team. He still had his clothes on from the fight and Gregor could see a bright purple bruise forming on his cheek. In his lap his little brother, Rugger, was snoozing- a string of drool connecting him to his big brother's shirt.

"Hello," Devon said, grinning widely at Luxa, "This is Rugger. Sorry you missed him earlier- he's normally a lot more fun." She laughed along with him, noting a strange accent to his voice.

Gregor looked around the circle and pointed out two young boys who looked very strange. Their skin was the color of rich dirt, and they looked up at her with dark eyes. They were exactly identical except one had a streak of white on the right side of his head and the other on the left. They smiled mischeviously at her and she had a hard time taking her eyes off of their bright teeth.

"I'm Matt, and this is Mark." The one with the streak on the right said. He stuck out his hand and she shook it.

"Nice to meet, ya." Mark said, taking her other hand. They both shook her hands up and down, grinning until Gregor broke them apart.  
"Behave you two." He said, but she noticed a smile in his voice.

"Dakota, Kayla" He motioned to two thin girls sitting across the room. The second was dark complected as well, but she wasn't as dark as the boys. Her hair was short and spiky in the back and her bangs were long and white, parted down the middle and reaching for her shoulders. Dakota also looked different; pale skin, dark hair, and eyes that seemed half-closed. She had never seen overlanders like these.

"And finally Lizzie and Boots."

Luxa turned her attention to the girls who were standing in the doorway. Lizzie was smiling at her, but Boots had a sour look on her face.

"Do you remember me?" Luxa asked Boots, who shook her head.

"I don't really remember any of it. I've been learning with the others today."

"How much have you learned?" Gregor asked the group.

"Well I know that I've been here before…" Boots started.

"And that you were here with your family…" Creed cut in.

"And that you saved everyone…" Matt said in awe. Mark cut across, "But you didn't want to be the warrior!"  
"And then you met Ripred," Devon cut in, "He's a rager too."  
"And you went on lots of adventures…" Chloe said, "But most of them were to save someone."  
"And then you got this AWESOME sword!!" Dalton said, "but you broke it…"  
"And then you came back up to the Overland, as they call it…"Dakota said.

"And then the Alira started to show up, so you started to fight them!" Kayla finished and the group gazed at him hoping that they hadn't forgotten anything.

"There are a few things that I didn't mention to them earlier," A deep voice came from the door. A tall man stepped through the curtain, his short hair was combed neatly and his eyes looked alert but tired at the same time. Then he cracked a grin as Gregor practically jumped over his chair to bear-hug him.

"Howard!" The rest of the team cracked up as their leader made a fool of himself.

"It is very good to see you as well, Overlander," Howard said holding Gregor at arms length to examine him, "You look so old!"

"Like you're one to talk" Gregor retorted, a wide smile splitting over his face.

"What did you not reveal to them?" Luxa asked Howard, as the two men made their way across the room.

"I hadn't really told them about the prophecy. I wanted you two to explain it to them." He nodded at Gregor and Luxa, "I have a copy of it here."  
"We have already _seen_ it Howard!" Boots said impatiently, "What's-her-name brought a copy down to us while you were out!"  
"Nerissa." Lizzie said quietly, "She said that it would conserve time."  
"Oh, well. I guess that there's not much use for my good intentions." Howard sighed and sat down against the wall, "Now, Gregor- what do you think it means?"  
Gregor collected his thoughts before speaking. He remembered the morbid lines and the quest that they predicted. He also wanted to word it to sound like he believed in it completely. He wanted them to trust him.

"Well… I think I'm supposed to go kill something… but I'm not sure what or where it really is."  
"We believe that it is underneath the battlegrounds where you defeated the Bane. There is a high level of Alira activity in those areas and we cannot get into the lower caves."  
"So there's some kind of head quarters for the Alira?" he asked.  
"Yes. We believe that they fed on your blood and began multiplying, or so we can judge from the prophecy."

"That's kinda gross," Creed cut in, but Devon shushed him, listening intently.

"So what?" Gregor asked, "We just go and kill whatever's there and get on with life, right?"  
"I don't think it's going to be that easy." Luxa said, "First off there are huge amounts of Alira residing around there, and while they are not high in power they are great in numbers. The masses will overtake our armies, and most of the Alira down here are rats, making our situation even worse."

"So how will we do this?" Gregor asked.

"We're going to sneak in." A new voice came in from the doorway, assaulting Gregor's ears and making memory upon memory bubble to the surface of his brain. His eyes flew to the doorway as he registered the voice. Deep, gruff, with a sharp edge of sarcasm.

Ripred.

**Author's note: okay so I'm totally sick today, I feel horrible, and my nose is running constantly. Please leave a review. Maybe if I get enough I'll feel better. PLUS this was a really hard chapter to write because it has literally no action… :( **

**Yeah so just click the button below, write a sentence or two and then click the submit button. It's not too hard, especially for a healthy smart young reader like you!**

**Thanks for reading!!**


	14. ZoMbIeS

**Disclaimer: I do not own TUC (that belongs to Suzanne Collins) or the "Re Your Brains" song (That belongs to Jonathan Coultan- very good song by the way. It's hilarious!!)**

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Dyltzo. You are amazing and inspiring! Thanks for encouraging me through my writers block! And thanks to JLynnCollins for just being awesome!!**

**Yes I know that I haven't updated in a month. You can rant to me in a REVIEW okay?? *hint hint***

**Oh and yes, I do know that I am trying to force my music on you but you should be thankful that I didn't use Disney! I listen to a lot of me Ariel! You go girl...fish…girl………….girlfish……..**

**Anywho- the long awaited (yeah right…) next chapter; ZoMbIeS by AuthorEmilyRay**

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"_Heya Tom, it's Bob,  
From the office down the hall.  
It's good to see you buddy,  
How've ya been?  
Things have been okay for me,  
Except that I'm a zombie now.  
I really wish you'd let us in.  
I think I speak for all of us when I say I understand  
Why you folks might hesitate to submit to our demands,  
But here's an FYI - you're all gonna die, screaming._

All we wanna do is eat your brains  
Were not unreasonable,  
I mean no-one's gonna eat your eyes  
All we wanna do is eat your brains  
Were at an impasse here,  
Maybe we should compromise…"

Zeva pulled out her earphones as someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looked over and found Boots coming to sit next to her. They were perched on the balcony of high hall, the hover boards parked beneath them.  
"What are you listening to?" Boots asked reaching for a headphone. Zeva handed her one.

"Re: Eat your brains by Jonathan… uh, Coultan." She pronounced with difficulty. English was her fourth language, and her worst.

"Uh… cool. Hey Gregor wants a training session in the Arena soon, so come on down when you're done eating."  
"Eating?" Zeva was confused, she had already had dinner and although the Underlanders were awake it was late at night for the Overlanders.

"You know- _Brains!_" Boots put an eerie voice on, and wiggled her fingers at Zeva, who laughed at her funny expression.  
"Alright then. I will eat the brains!" She said getting up and following Boots out of the room, "Starting with yours!" She jumped towards the little girl who screamed in delight despite trying to act cool, and chased her out of High Hall.

* * *

Upon entering the training grounds Zeva tried to remember what it looked like packed with people and monsters. Had that really only been two days ago? Since then she had learned that not only did an entire civilization live right under her feet, but she had found out so much about their culture.

Like how they lived in harmony with the bats and crawlers, and how the Rats normally hated them but they had kept peace for seven years. She had also finally learned where Gregor had received all of his scars. He was very good to keep himself covered, but every so often his sleeves would ride up, displaying a web silvery white, and beautiful.  
They all had scars, but in her opinion Gregor's were the best.

Zeva looked around once more at the empty stands and focused in on her friends. All of the rager team was there and it looked like Gregor had them doing routine warm-up drills on the springy turf. The Underlanders had done a good job of cleaning the area, not even the white dust from the dead Alira was there.

Most humans up top had learned the hard way that breathing in the dust that comes off of dead Alira for too long will kill you. Lizzie had been testing her hypothesis that the Alira dust aged the body without making it seem older. Zeva reached out to tug on the lock of bleach white hair that stuck out from her ponytail. She had breathed in the Alira dust and it had turned part of her hair white, along with many of the other ragers on her team. Lizzie had the idea that Alira dust made the body age without actually physically aging it. So anyone who breathed it in would have the same body but their hair, skin, and internal organs would start to grow old.

Flipping her ponytail back over her shoulder she ran after Boots who was making her way towards the other six ragers. Gregor had them lined up into two rows and Zeva took her spot at the back of one of them, realizing that they were uneven without Chloe. Dalton was there and he looked back at her with questions in his eyes. She hadn't been able to bring herself to go into Chloe's hospital room, she didn't want to admit she was scared but deep inside she knew that she was terrified.

"Ok. We can start now." Gregor said, putting an arm around his littlest sister at his side.

"Without me?" A loud and sarcastic voice came from behind them. All but Gregor turned to see the giant rat coming from one of the adjourning tunnels.

"I knew you were there." Gregor said rolling his eyes, "Though I don't really know why."

"Well isn't it obvious?" Ripred said coming up to Gregor's side, "I can never turn down the chance to pick on my favorite little rager." Again with the sarcasm. Ripred patted Gregor on the head with the tip of his tail, and was swatted away by one of Gregor's gloved hands.

"Why are you here? Seriously."

"To train, of course." Ripred looked almost joyfully toward the surprised teenagers staring at him, "Well you are missing one of your numbers right?"

"Yes, but she'll be back soon so…" Gregor trailed off knowing that it was useless. Ripred took his spot in the lineup, and cocked his head towards, "What? Haven't you ever wanted to boss me around? Now's your chance, pup."  
"Yes but if I do the question is will you follow them."  
"…With all my heart." Ripreds' words were serious, yet most of the ragers had a hard time keeping a straight face.

"You're teaching them bad habits." Gregor said glaring at the gnawer.

"Ahhh, well. At least they're making progress; see? They can even make straight lines now!"  
"Just shut up," Gregor addressed them all, "We'll be doing the first whistle exercise. Would someone like to explain it to Ripred, I'm not sure I have the patience."  
"Patience is a virtue, Gregor." The rats' voice grated on Gregor's nerves, and he nearly growled in frustration.

"I will! I will!" Boots jumped up and down waving her hand frantically in the air. Gregor nodded to her and she began to recite off the steps to the exercise in a bubbly voice.

"First we-" Gregor shot her a look, "I mean, YOU will all get partners and make a line. Well you've already done that. Next you spread out so you'll have room to fight. Does everyone have their weapons?" There was a general reply and some even unsheathed their swords to prove their point.

Ripred looked around at the impressive looking group. The Iranian girl standing stiffly next to him had a silver bow and and a quiver strung across her back. In front of her a short boy with tousled black hair was supporting a gigantic weapon that looked like a sword and an axe combined. The boy, Devon, caught Ripred looking and smirked swinging the curved blade so it caught the light. Then he turned back to Boots.

Ripred moved on to the boy in front of Devon. Creed was his name and his scythe like weapon was being twirled lightly in his nimble fingers. Slightly impressed Ripred took in his own line. The one in the front, the brother of the hurt girl…Dalton, was holding a long sword and shield, both glowing softly in the torch light. And finally the tiny girl in front of him who held a wicked looking spear with two heads; one sharp and slightly curved, the other serrated and intricately designed. It was much bigger than she was and he wondered how such a small kid could wield such a big weapon, but she didn't seem to have any problems with it.

He turned his attention back to Boots who was still spouting off instructions, noticing that she carried no weapon.

"So when Gregor blows his whistle once you start fighting- no raging. When he blows it twice the first side," she motioned to the team across from Ripred, "Will rage and the other side will try to defend themselves. REMEMBER if you are on the defense and you rage your team is disqualified! Then when Gregor blows his whistle a third time the team that is raging must stop. We'll fight regularly for a few more minutes and then repeat the process with the other side. Got it?" She looked towards Ripred and he nodded once, wondering where Lizzie and the rest of the wonder team was.

They moved away from each other, and Ripred turned to face his partner, the girl Zeva. She had set her bow and arrows on the ground and took out what looked like two steel half moons that had a handle cut into the flat sides. He wondered if she would even be able to keep up with him, but reminded himself that she was the one that was raging first. Well at least she didn't look scared. It might turn out to be fun anyway.

On Gregor's whistle Zeva sprung into action. Slicing forward with her blades, arching towards her opponents outstretched claws. He smoothly deflected her with a good hit to the side with his tail. She stumbled back and then came at him again this time twisting out of the way of the swinging tail to meet his claws with a resounding clang. He easily overpowered her by shoving her hard, but she was expecting it, using his force to fuel her jump.

She swung upward, half-moon blades still locked in his claws. With a grunt her boots connected with his face and he threw her to the side, cursing himself for misjudging her strength. She was a smart rager. Very unlike his first pupil. He glanced Gregor's way just in time to see his old apprentice raise the whistle to give the team permission to rage.

It was instantaneous. The sounds of the others around him became more violent, more precise. He quickly turned back to Zeva only to find that she was already springing towards him, her quiver swinging towards the side of his head. He dodged, but she cut his shoulder on her way down. He saw her drop her quiver and spin in midair to land on her feet, catlike. She pulled out the other blade that had been hooked to her belt and glared up at him. He saw her change.

It was something about the eyes. They became brighter, almost as if they were glowing with the power she possessed. He guessed that she was still learning to turn her abilities on and off, but whenever she had them on she became even better of a fighter. She jumped, flipped, slashed, twisted, and fought with everything she had; all the while carrying herself more magnificently than Luxa in her finest hour. Her smile was eerily sad, but her eyes teased him to rage as well.

Ripred had no trouble keeping his own abilities at bay, but he still felt himself wanting to give in as she slashed at him left and right. He wanted to fight with her. It was a relatively new feeling. Normally fighting was an obligation. A chore.  
But this dark-complected girl brought on a new vigor in him for blood. He wouldn't lose to her, but he would have a lot of fun in the process. With a twist of his own body he sprang into the frenzy, wanting to lose himself in a battle that would definitely be worth his while.

* * *

He knew that she was behind him and a smile spread softly across his face as he realized that she was trying to sneak up on him. Her arms wrapped around one of his as she stared at the scene in front of her. She had never seen so many ragers in action and the sheer power displaying before her was amazing.

The team had been practicing for nearly an hour. After they had finished the first drill, Gregor had them meditate for a while, trying to rage without danger and then to turn it off without fighting anything. Then they tried the first drill again with different partners. Ripred was now paired with Dalton, Claws against sword. Zeva fought Kayla, while Creed was slightly overpowered by an enthusiastic Devon.

He looked down at her as she gasped when he blew the whistle and three of the six ragers went into action against their partners. He smiled at the wonder he saw in her eyes, and felt his face heat up as she met his own.

"Gregor this is amazing what you have done with them" Luxa said smiling up at him. He felt his throat close as he smelled her so close to him. She smelled of lavender and parchment.

"Uh… well, you know… they don't need much help… because you know- they're ragers so they all like… just need… practice." He was distracted by one of her hands on his bare forearm. Her nails were perfect, her skin soft and so warm. He gulped as she stared to talk, brining his attention back to her beautiful eyes.

"So this is what you have done in the seven years that we have been apart? I think it is a good venture." Her perfect teeth glinted as she smiled through two rose colored lips. His stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. Very angry and hyperactive butterflies.

"Just for the last three. They kind of just came to me. Well, okay I did seek some of them out, but most of them just showed up."

"What do you mean? Showed up?"

He swallowed trying to squash his feelings, and blew the whistle again watching to make sure that everyone stopped raging and were fighting normally as a distraction. When he felt composed enough he looked back at Luxa who was waiting patiently a small half-smile tilting upon those beautiful lips. He remembered what they tasted like and that sent him over the edge all over again. What was he? A prepubescent boy?!?

He cleared his throat and pointed to Dalton, "Chloe is his sister. One day Creed and I went out on a mission and found them fighting Alira in the streets with a BB gun and some rebar. So they were included in our family, no questions asked. Plus they are both excellent fighters."

"What about the others? Did you find all of them in New York?"  
"No actually. See Zeva on the end? I don't think you've met but I went and followed a story about a monster girl down in Jersey. She got there on a ship that was going to sell her for her organs on the black market, but she raged when they got to shore and killed 50 crewmen with her bare hands," Gregor looked down at Luxa who looked a little horrified but mostly in awe, "Or so the story goes. She never really talks about it."  
"Gregor? What is a black market?"  
"Uh… a system of illegal trading of people, and drugs and stuff. It's mostly bad, but I get movies really cheap." He shrugged, hoping that she wouldn't ask Zeva about it.

"So what about you?" He changed the subject, "What have you been up to?"  
"Other than being Queen?"

He laughed with her, wondering if she was the same person as before. Had there been any more wars? Was everyone still alive?  
"Well…" She continued, "Keeping the peace is very hard. We have had multiple outbreaks of rebels in both the human and gnawer races. People just cannot seem to change even if they know what we are saying is logical."

"So there hasn't been any wars?"  
Luxa sighed and looked away, "Not exactly. The cutters finally invaded, taking out the flutterers… I believe you call them Flutter-flies."  
"Butterflies?"  
"Yes. They have not been seen in two years, but we found that the cutters had completely invaded their lands. When we found this we pulled together a force of a few thousand gnawers and humans and drove them back to their lands. We killed many, but we found that there was another colony building there as well. Now they have two queens who are mass producing to make more for the next wave of their attack. We believe that they will strike either the humans or the gnawer colonies next."  
"Well… why don't you just invade them while they are weak."  
"That is the problem, Gregor. While they are down in numbers they are not weak. They will fight till the last cutter, and we do not have enough resources to defeat them completely."  
"So you're just going to sit back and wait for them to come and kill you? That doesn't sound like the Luxa I know!"  
She smiled almost evilly as him, "Well we were planning a surprise attack before-"

She was cut off by one of the most horrible screeches Gregor had ever heard. His ears instantly picked up all of the heated bodies in the room with echolocation, and with a sinking feeling he realized that high above them was another body, much colder from all the rest. Luxa was looking around wildly, searching frantically for the Alira.  
"It's above us." He called to his tensed team, "Dalton, call the boards!" Dalton took a sleek looking remote from his pockets and pushed the distress signal on the keypad, drawing the hover boards from the generators near the fields where they were charging.

The Alira above them screeched and Gregor sensed when it dropped strait down.

"Here it comes." Ripred said, tracking it with his own echolocation. Gregor pulled a long dagger from his belt and shoved it into Luxa hands when he realized that she wasn't carrying a weapon.

It came into the light just before the wicked claws of the gruesome bat reached the cluster of ragers.

"Take Boots and get out of here," Gregor yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted into the fray. The monster was attacking any of the ragers it could reach, and they were all fighting as the giant bat rose and fell with grim talons slashing.  
"Spread out! Make a circle!" Gregor yelled to them and they immediately obeyed except for Ripred who had just gotten his teeth into one of its wings. He could tell that they were all raging already; the strange calmness to each face, the twitching of the muscles ready for blood and the fire burning behind each eye. He released the floodgates in his own body, his eyesight fracturing as it took in each vital point of the swooping beast as his rager system roared to life.

They surrounded it as it tried to attack, finding itself meeting the blades and teeth of seven skilled fighters. It screeched and dove once again, and the circle moved to once again make sure that the bat was in range of every rager. Gregor could see multiple wounds begin to litter the animal, and laughed feeling his rager side break. It was barely a level 5! Possibly a worthy opponent of TWO of the ragers but not all seven. The others began to realize the incompetence of their rival and they began to almost tease the Alira, sending it across the circle almost as if they were playing monkey in the middle with its body.

With the threat gone the team began to have fun, a few even chuckling as the Alira became angrier and angrier. It became careless as well and with a final _thwap_ of sturdy string hitting leather- Zeva buried an arrow through its heart. A few people groaned at the loss of the new training tool, but Gregor was glad that it was over.

While they could laugh and joke about the opponent who never stood a chance all Gregor could think of was the bloody motionless figure of Chloe, that he knew would haunt him like the images of his parents. As he walked to the tunnel to retrieve his sister and Luxa, Gregor wondered how many more encounters with the Alira his team could live through. If he followed Sandwich's words and went to hunt down this main-demon-thing would all of the Alira die? Or would it their job to go and kill every last one of them?  
Gregor sighed already feeling the headache spreading from his downturned brow.

* * *

**Yeah I don't really like the ending but I am so tired of writing this chapter! Thanks to everyone for being patient! I know it took forever with this chapter!! Lee**

**Oh and I realized recently that Zeva is a Middle Eastern character in the popular show NCIS. I knew that I had heard her name before but I didn't realize that I had copied an ENTIRE CHARACTER…urg fail….**

**So once again I must type the words that I know will probably be fruitless; PLEASE REVIEW!!  
I know you know how, cause I know how, and if I know how then you know how because I don't know how to do so many things that you know how to do, you know??  
Thank you God for making me special!  
Lee**

**OK CHARACTER BIO FOR THE CHAPTER!!! So far I have done….drumroll while I look it up….Creed, Zeva, Chloe, Dakota, and Dalton. PM me or REVIEW and tell me who I should do next :)  
**

**Okay so this time I will do two, just because it's taken so long for me to update. Good golly it really has been a month!!**

**Devon Helm- Gregor's Team**

**Age:11**

**Eyes: Dark Green**

**Hair: Black  
Ethnicity: White (from Canada)  
Favorite Color: Blue**

**Family: He was given to an orphanage when his little brother turned into a rager. He later became one himself. Rugger is his only family.  
Been with Gregor for: 2 ½ years**

**Weapon: Axe/sword. Large axe with a small hilt. He uses it more like a sword.**

**Hoverboard: Pyxis (compass). Black board with gold web-like designs.**

* * *

**Kayla Benton- Gregor's Team**

**Age: 12  
Eyes: Gray  
Hair: Black**

**Ethnicity: Native American**

**Favorite Color: Rich Brown**

**Family: Cannot remember a family- she remembers waking up to an Alira attack, she was alone.**

**Been with Gregor for: 2 years.**

**Weapon: Double headed spear. One head is long and slender, one is short and has spikes.  
Hoverboard: Lepus (Hare). Dark brown board. Fastest board on the team except for ar1es.**


	15. Conflict

**This time there is no excuse except for this—I'm LAZY! Whenever I had time to actually sit down and write, I didn't. Whenever the authors on this website tell you that they are too busy, they are totally lying through their keyboards! The truth is we're all really big nerds (I think it's a compliment), and we don't feel like writing for people who don't write reviews back. I don't feel like writing, no one feels like writing, no one writes… it works like that….**

**SO write a review! I hate begging, but I really and seriously can't get better UNLESS you write to me and tell me what I am doing WRONG!!  
Oh, and I got a BETA so now I should be good to go! Yeah! Her name is Sombrita and she is amazing! I give so many kudos points to her that her bucket has officially overflowed!  
Signing off, Lee**

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"They are pretty intense," said Luxa, chuckling as she watched the ragers toss around the Alira in the arena like a sack of cow dung.

The little girl next to her scoffed, "As if."

Luxa turned to Boots, her eyes taking in the child and fully realizing how differently she was now than in her memories of her. When she saw the nine-year-old it was hard to believe that this was the adorable, sweet-hearted little toddler that she remembered. Now the short choppy curls stood at awkward angles, and the eyes below the mop showed little kindness. They weren't mean, but there was distinct hurting beneath them.

"You are troubled?" she asked Boots, hoping that she had retained her honesty.

"What's it to you?!" She looked away from Luxa with just a hint of a tear sparkling in her eyes.

"I care about you." Luxa paused. "You really don't remember any of us?"

"Well, yes and no… it's all really a blur." She slid down the wall of the tunnel to sit down on the hard rock.

"What do you mean by 'blur'?" Luxa asked, sliding down to meet her.

Luxa looked at Boots, remembering the happy bubbly child that used to be able to cheer her up. What had happened? Had growing up changed everyone she knew? Now her role was reversed and she had to reassure the child that had always been there to make her smile—to make all worry go away.

Luxa shivered, both from the cold pressing against her back and a longing for things that had long since changed.

"Well, the more I'm here the more confused I get. I mean, I grew up thinking that this place was a dream, or some part of my mind playing tricks on me, but now I know that it was real."

"Didn't your family explain it to you?" Luxa tucked a loose curl behind Boots' ear.

"What family?!?" Boots' voice was harsh with emotion as she sprung up away from Luxa. "You "You mean my parents? They died when I was six! Do you mean Lizzie? She's always too busy taking care of the other kids or stuck in that stupid lab of hers!"

"What about Gregor?" Luxa instantly regretted the words as Boot's face contorted to one of rage.

"Ugh! I hate him so much! He always acts like he's fine in front of everyone else, but I know that he is really hurting, but he won't let any of us near him! He blocks out his emotions and becomes the perfect 'leader' for the team! He never lets me help out, and he only talks to me when he's lecturing me! I just—I just—I just—" Her voice was cut off in a sob. Luxa pulled her into her lap, feeling helpless but wanting to comfort the girl whom she considered a little sister. Boots sobbed into her shoulder.

"So Gregor has lectured you about what happened with the Alira." Boots nodded into her shoulder.

"He was right, though. And that's what hurt the most! It was my fault and Chloe almost died!" She looked at Luxa pleadingly, tears streaking her face. "What if she _had_ died!" choked out.

"I do not think that the entire thing should be your fault, Boots. Chloe was protecting you, and I do not think she would have it any other way. And getting kidnapped was not your plan, was it?"

Boots shook her head.

"I—I just wanted to help."

"Well, sometimes we all make mistakes and we regret them, but you know that Gregor loves you, and he was just upset because you were in danger."

"I wish he would just say that."

"I have found that on many occasions what someone says and what they mean are two different things. Especially when it comes to _men_!" She stuck her tongue out and Boots giggled. Maybe she hadn't changed as much as Luxa had thought.

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"Hey! Hey, you!" Lizzie wondered if the voice was calling out to her, but kept walking. If they didn't know her by name then they must not really know her, "Overlander!" Wow. Her pursuer had the power of observation. Realizing that it would be rude to ignore them any longer she turned around in time to be completely picked up off the ground by two strong arms.

"Aww! I knew it was you!" The familiar voice yelled in her ear. She pulled back slightly to see long dark curls encasing two glittering emerald eyes.

"H-Hazard!?!"

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She groaned and rolled her head a little, feeling the familiar sensation of a brush being pulled gently through her hair. It was a good feeling, and she could almost feel the sun sprinkling her in light, could barely make out the scent of the one person she wanted most.

"Mom?"

"Oh! I am very sorry. I did not realize that you were awake." A distinct male voice interrupted her warm thoughts and her eyes flew open.

It was the translucent man.

"Howard?!" She took in the blush covering his entire body, and the small bone brush in his hands. Had he been brushing her hair?! What a creeper!

"Wh-what are you doing!?" She sat up and regretted it instantly, the wound on her stomach protesting against her movements. She gasped and doubled up and Howard quickly helped her lay back down.

"Please do not overexert yourself, Chloe," he said in a voice full of concern, "You will become well, but only if you can learn to rest."

"Why were you brushing my hair?" she asked him, eyeing him accusingly.

"Well—I—erm…I thought it was a pity that it get mussed. I was brushing it so that you would feel better."

_Mussed? Who used words like that? _

"I can brush my own hair, thanks!" She yanked the brush from his reddened fingers (the blush seemed to overtake his entire form) and started to pull it through her hair, only to get it hopelessly entangled in the knots her curls had woven while she was asleep. She yanked and pulled, but only succeeded in causing her scalp to ache.

"May I?" He asked moving towards her. He reached out to take hold of the bone handle, and when she didn't protest he started to work out the grisly knots encircling the brush. His fingers were long and gentle, and he was careful not to pull out any of her hair. She watched him during the whole process, which made him blush even harder.

"So why do you care so much, anyway? Aren't you a doctor? Don't you guys come with an automatic steely bedside manner?" She thought it was funny, but he didn't seem to get her words. _Cultural differences and whatnot._

"I believe that if a patient is comfortable and feels good about his or herself they will heal more quickly. I just want you to feel better soon." He lifted her head a bit to pull some hair from underneath it before beginning to brush that as well.

"So you brush the rats, too?" She wondered if the brush he used was a community tool and shuddered at the thought.

"Well… no. The truth really is… your hair reminds me of a dear friend of mine. I haven't seen her in a long time, but she had red locks as well."

"Ooohhhhh. A girlfriend, maybe?" She poked him in the side teasingly and he jerked back, obviously ticklish.

"No. She was my bond." The look on his face made the teasing grin slide right off her face.

"She was a bat?" He nodded. _She was being compared to a bat?_

"She died a long time ago." Well now she felt like scum. They sat there for a while, his fingers still delicately maneuvering the brush through her hair.

"...What was her name?" Chloe asked quietly. He stopped moving completely, his hands holding onto her silky smooth hair.

"Pandora."

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"Where is everyone?" Matt asked impatiently, waiting for the rest of his family to gather in the dining hall. His stomach had been rumbling for quite some time and he was ready to scarf down as much food as he could. The worst part was he could smell it coming from the adjoining kitchen and it made his stomach ache with longing.

"Presenting Her Majesty, Queen Luxa," said a small and pompous man who scurried into the room. When the kids failed to stand and recognize the good queen the short butler became very red in the face, making him much more interesting to watch. The kids peered at him as the much taller woman, dressed in a flowing gown of deep amethyst came into the room.

"It is fine, Hodges," she said patting him on the back, "They are just children." He turned to her, bowed deeply (for his nose almost touched his knees), and left the room in a huff. Her Majesty turned to look at the kids who were deeply amused by Hodges.

"I apologize for my butler. He does have a tendency to get carried away with himself." She smiled at them and realized that she hadn't met any of these Overlanders.

"I am Luxa. You must be on Lizzie's "teek" team."

"Tech Team," Dakota corrected. "We're too young to fight, but we're smart and we want to help. So we work on the hover boards and the rager enhancements."

"Rager Enhancements?" Luxa asked.

Just as Dakota was about to speak again, Gregor's voice cut through from the doorway.

"So what's for dinner? I'm starving!" He and the rest of the team filed in, looking tired but happy from a good practice session. They had all bathed and changed from their workout clothes, and Luxa even noticed a few bandages. It must have gotten rougher after she'd left.

"Whoa! What is that?" Kayla almost shrieked as whole fish were brought out and placed before each of them.

"Food!" Creed said and stuffed some of the soft meat into his mouth. "Good food!" Each of them dug into the feast before them as more and more of the Underland food was brought out.

After the meal was finished Luxa and Gregor began to tell the stories of their adventures when they were younger. The other kids listened in wonder to tales of prophecies and warriors, princesses and traitors, gnawers big as buildings and fliers faster than the wind. They all laughed as Luxa went into great detail about the misdeeds of their fearless leader, and much to his embarrassment Gregor was promptly told that many of those stories were constantly circulated at parties and gatherings.

"Do you remember that time that you performed that sacred Overland dance for us. What was it called…? The Hokey Pokey!?" The group nearly died laughing as Gregor turned even redder.

"Well, I would say that it wasn't as bad as the time when you tried to—"

But he never got to finish his sentence, for at that moment a messenger, dripping in bright-red blood burst into the room, gasping for breath. Luxa and Gregor both jumped up to support him as he collapsed, and they lowered him to the floor.

"Give him room," Gregor heard Lizzie tell the others, who had been crowding around.

"What is it, Calmius? What has happened?!"

His blood-stained lips parted and he wheezed out a few words that chilled Gregor to his marrow.

"The Alira have attacked… the Fount has…fallen."

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**Okay so I totally screwed up that whole chapter- please don't kill me for it! I really wanted this to go differently, but since it didn't… oh well. I got to my end result which is the falling of the Fount and that's what the whole chapter was about.**

**Well once again thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed in the past, and thanks to you—who are now reading this…and reviewing-right??  
It's not too hard and I know they changed the button, which might mess up a few of you but I know you can do it! It's now ORANGE and smaller, so you may need your reading glasses:)  
As always thanks and God bless!  
Lee**


	16. Lending the heart

**Author's note: Yes it's short. I already know that so please don't tell me that in a review. By all means write a review- just don't mock my vertically challenged chapter. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own this. Just that.**

****

"What's the Fount? Is it like a waterfall?" Dalton asked as they flew on their boards the wind whistling around them as they hurtled away from the city.

"No. It's a city like Regalia only smaller."Gregor replied raising his voice so that everyone could hear, "We need to get there to see if anyone can be saved. Then we'll airlift everyone out- Don't worry about fighting the Alira unless you are surrounded."  
"But Gregor- fighting is all we know how to do!" Zeva put in.

"But you fight to protect someone correct! This time we are going to protect _before_ we attack."  
"Are we the only one's going to be doing this? I don't think we can save the whole city by ourselves."  
"The Regalian army is right on our tails. They'll be there shortly after we arrive, but for now we need to worry about getting there. The creatures down here are very large already and I don't want to know how big they get when they become Alira- although I'm sure we'll find out." Gregor clicked again in the darkness.  
They flew on in silence for a while before Gregor's echolocation picked up a shimmering blue that he recognized as an Alira.  
"2 o'clock." He said and immediately he felt the ragers near him draw in closer to his board. They glided smoothly past the Alira and waited for its attack, but it didn't come.

"That was weird." Devon stated, "Should we go back and see what it's doing?"  
"I wouldn't" Gregor said, "We have to keep moving. If they aren't attacking us then that is cause for celebration."

"So after we get there what do we do? Look for people?"  
"Yes. If you find anyone alive then bring them to the fields. I'm sure the army will create a base camp there and they can start taking them to Regalia. If the fields are not usable we'll have to find a cave nearby that is big enough and accessible."  
"What if there are level fourteens?"  
"Don't even try to fight them."  


Luxa scanned the horizon for any movement. So far their convoy of bats hadn't been attacked but as they neared their sister city she knew that that their situation would change.

The news that the Fount had been attacked had been enough to send her people over the edge. The Fount was always a peaceful place. A place of refuge. Attacks happened on Regalia but never on the Fount. Even now reports were coming in on how the Regalians were preparing to host their fellow Underlanders and they had seen a dramatic volunteer surge to join the army and go to battle.  
She felt proud to be commanding such a passionate people.

She wondered if the Fount could be salvaged as a home for its people. If the Alira were too great in number they would have to find permanent lodging for the refugees. If there were any refugees.

She felt a headache coming on.

"Luxa?" Aurora's soft voice was heard over the fluttering of wings, "We are nearing the Fount."  
Luxa shifted in position and felt something come over her. It was almost a feeling of fear and she knew that the men with her must have been feeling it too. She turned around on Aurora and stood on her bat's back so that the other riders could see her. In her nervousness she straightened her crown out of habit but quickly put her hand down.

"Regalians!" She called out as loud as her voice could carry, "In the past I have asked many things of you. I have asked you to watch over me and my family when I was too young to watch out for you! I have asked you to stand by me even when I didn't know what the outcome would be! I have asked you to fight for what we all know is right! And tonight I must call upon your strength again and ask you to help me. I do not know why the Alira are here, and I do not know if any of us will survive their brutish attacks, but I do know that we have never faced an enemy that we could not vanquish. We have never found a match to our strength or our heart."

Luxa took a breath to continue, but was cut off as Aurora suddenly dived. Luxa felt a streak of heat sear her shoulder and cursed herself for not being more careful. Of course the Alira would attack at the moment when she needed her army to be invigorated.

She hoped that she had lifted their spirits enough. She swung back into position on Aurora and felt the shallow wound in her shoulder. Not to damaged she concluded, but was astonished by the amount of pain that was radiating from the wound.

She tried to ignore it as Aurora zigzagged. It seemed that the Alira had waited to attack until they were nearly on top of the fount and she found herself catching glimpses of the damaged city. It was completely engulfed in fire; the strange unearthly purple flames were casting wicked shadows upon the massive cave walls and threw everything into a ghoulish light. She pulled her sword in time to slice the head off of a Level 4 Alira- formerly a small Flier.  
Carnage reigned as her army was attacked by an army of a different nature. Most of the Alira were between levels 4-8 but Luxa saw some more gruesome levels jumping from the ground to pull the Fliers out of the sky.

"Queen Luxa!" She heard a rider shout from behind her. Aurora pulled back to be level with the rider's. Flier.

"We have spotted the refugees. They are on the outskirts of the village, but they are trapped by the gates. If we don't reach them soon then the fires will be too high to get close- the fliers wouldn't be able to get them out even if we got in."  
"Why don't they open the gates?"  
"The gates are guarded by high level Alira."  
"How high?" Luxa felt her stomach contract in anticipation and dread. She could almost predict what the rider was going to say next.

"They are Level Fourteen."

**DUN DUN DDDUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!  
I know I'm too horrible right? Well for one I am currently packing to leave for England and two) this story is a little boring to me right now. I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a long time.**

**Okay now for my info on England-**

**I won't be in town from July 2- July 16 and I am sorry for that. I am going to London for a while and probably won't be able to get online.**

**So that means I won't be answering PM's, Beta Requests or Reviews! Once again I am sorry for the inconvenience.**

**See you soon,  
lee**


	17. The Fount

**Disclaimer: I know we all daydream that we're Suzanne Collins but we're not and we don't own the rights to TUC.**

**A/N: You guys are awesome for reading this! Thanks for being patient with me. This is such a long chapter and I had a lot of problems with it. **

**I had some work done on my laptop and the guy took off word and all that so I had to go and buy a new version of it. I am also now officially a college student and I moved in two days ago. I can't wait to hear from all of you!  
**

"Do you know how many level fourteen's there are?" Gregor asked Luxa. The team was stationed high above the Fount, and the dim light of the burning city cast strange glows on each concerned face. The hover boards had connected and created a platform big enough for each team member to sit cross legged in a circle. Aurora had flown Luxa up there for their makeshift "pow-wow" and was currently working with the heads of the army to organize Luxa's battle plan.

"Our informants tell us that there could be as many as 5. They are stationed around the North and East Gates, blocking the citizens from escaping. The flames have gotten so high that the bats cannot go down without suffocating. I don't know how we are going to get all of the people out."  
"What if we," Gregor motioned to his team, "Began to evacuate the people?" Our boards can withstand heat, and we have masks that will protect us from the smoke."  
"Then who will fight the Alira?" Luxa asked.

"If you'll get your best ground fighters I could use them. If we drop down and surprise the guards then we might have a chance of winning against them. Are you sure the citizens are not infected with the Alira? None of them are turning?"  
"Into Alira? No, I don't think so, but that is always a possibility."  
"Then we need to move fast. Creed I want you and Zeva to be in charge. I need you to start flying the citizens to the bats that are waiting above the smoke. I need the whole team to help with this, so that means _no fighting_ until all of the people are safe."  
"But _you're_ fighting!" Devon protested, but the last syllable died on his lips with the look that Gregor gave him.  
"We'll need everything we've got for this one." Gregor said rummaging through his pack attached to ar1es. He pulled out a small green tinted flask and unscrewed the lid. Instantly he felt the bile rise up in his throat as the vile liquid permeated the air.

"Oh! Of all things—Gregor what _is that!"_ Luxa held her sleeve up to her nose trying to block out the sickly sweet scent that sent chills up his back.

"Lizzie calls it Tonic. It's a rager enhancer." Creed said, crinkling his nose in disgust.

"More like Toxic." Zeva's strained voice chimed in.

"Enhancer? I do not think I understand what-" She stopped midsentence as Gregor raised the flask to his lips, closed his eyes, and swallowed two large gulps. He gasped as he pulled the container away from his mouth, his body visibly shaking.

He passed the bottle on, his eyes still scrunched tight, and Luxa sat in horror as one by one each team member drank a few sips. Each had a look of pain and disgust on their faces as they came into contact with the drink. As the bottle reached her she felt herself cringe away from it. Gregor reached over and took it from Creed.

"It's alright. It would probably harm you more than help." He said, downing one more sip before capping the flask. She stared at him. He was different. His voice, melodic and deep a few moments ago now had a strange gravely sound- almost as if he had swallowed sandpaper after screaming for hours on end. There was sweat on his brow, and his hands were shaking as he clutched his arms, his knees drawn tight to his chin.

But his eyes were what scared her the most. Behind his heavy lids his pupils seemed to have contracted until they were tiny spot amid a sea of blue. But, Gregor's eyes weren't blue- she remembered staring into his large trusting brown eyes many times, but this new color was a little scary. He shut his eyes, and she stared over the circle at the other ragers. Each were in similar conditions- eyes screwed shut, faces contorted as they each battled something that she couldn't understand.  
She didn't speak; she didn't feel she could. She sat there as one by one the ragers slowly gained composure of themselves.  
Gregor lifted his head, and looked over at her- apology written across his face. His eyes, still a strange light blue, seemed to glow dimly in the dusky fire's light.  
"I'm sorry you had to see that."  
"I do not understand, and I am not sure that I want to." She felt scared of him for the first time. Many soldiers drank before a battle, but she had never seen a drink that was so vile and deplorable. She didn't know who in their right minds would _willingly_ drink something that seemed to cause so much pain, but Gregor must have known what he was doing, right?  
"Think of it as like a pick-me-up for ragers. We drink it and a few minutes later we are…better than we ever were. When we rage we can go longer, and fight harder. It also allows us to see and hear better, but for a price."  
"A price?" She asked, afraid of what the answer would be.

" See this?" He yanked on the white streak in his hair and continued, "Every time we use it we become older. Not our bodies but our composition. Our organs, our hair, even our senses become more…experienced. That's why we all have white in our hair. If we kept using it we would eventually be all snowy up-top."  
"Or so Lizzie predicts." Dakota piped in, her eyes glowing green.

"So you can rage better if you drink it? What in the world _is it?_" There was an awkward pause.

"Lizzie discovered it a while back. We had brought back samples of Alira that had died—you know they turn into a cloud of ash that can kill—well she was experimenting with it and found that when it makes contact with boiling water it will become this." He held out the flask and shook it, the green contents sloshing around the glass sides.

"So…You're _drinking_ liquefied Alira dust?" She was astounded.

They didn't have to answer.  
"Gregor! How could you! Do you understand the meaning of DEADLY GAS? If it's liquefied how does that change it! You put your life in danger… You put their lives in danger! I can't believe how stupid-"

"Luxa" Her bonds voice shook her from her spiel. She looked over at Aurora who was fluttering near the circle, "The Alira have not attacked and our army is ready to commence. We will start at the Eastern Gate and work our way around. Also Ripred has arrived with a band of gnawers and has requested that his group be stationed near the level 14s."

The short sentences seemed to really take it out of the bat, and she waited for Luxa to respond.

"All right," Luxa said "Tell the commanders that we move in five minutes. Ripred needs to get to the Eastern Gate. Gregor and I will meet him there and we will begin the attack."  
She leaped from ar1es onto Aurora and they were gone in a flash of golden wings.

Gregor knew he hadn't heard the last of it. There never was an end with Luxa, but as the hover boards disassembled he tried to take his mind off of her and onto the fight at hand.  
Level 14.

He knew that it wouldn't be easy. Physically or emotionally. But at least it was something to do to get his mind off of all of the other problems he had going on.

The Eastern Gate was a small door on the side of the tall fortress wall. It was a lot less impressive than Gregor had expected. He could tell that it was too small for a rat to fit into, but large enough for people, but looking around the gate he saw fields upon fields stretching far out to the river. He wondered how they got their carts through the gate.

Gregor was careful to stay in the shadows above the gate, not wanting to alert the level 14s of his presence until the time was right. Soon Luxa joined him and they waited for Ripred to arrive. After minutes that seemed endless, Gregor turned to Luxa and whispered, "There's only two of them. Think we can handle it?"

Luxa looked over at Aurora, who was struggling to breath and fly through the smoke, "I think we'll have to."

She sent Aurora back to tell the commanders that they had begun the first attack and she and Gregor unsheathed their weapons quietly, standing atop ar1es.

"Well, as always- Fly you high" he said, wishing that he had said something cooler. He leaned over and attempted to kiss her on the lips but she turned her head so his lips made contact with her cheek.

"Sorry. That is for later," she said and dropped out of sight. He watched her land in front of the Alira sword drawn and hair flying, before leaping himself and landing next to her.

The two Alira, one male and one female, were facing them eyes devoid of emotion and cruel weapons in hand. The man brandished a large double-headed axe, blooded and battered. The woman had a plain looking sword, but her stance told him that she was anything but ordinary. They both had a grayish tinge to their skin, the Alira had already taken a strong hold in both of them.

"So, which one do you want?" Gregor asked, but Luxa didn't give him a chance to finish before charging at the woman. Gregor shrugged and spun his swords in his hands, feeling the air whoosh by him as he warmed up.

With a sigh he saw that the man was charging at him, and with a bored clang their weapons met. Gregor felt his rager side coming to the surface, pushing past all barriers that he had set up and roaring through his system. He stomach gave a funny throb and he felt as though he was going to be sick, but it was what always happened whenever the enhancer kicked in fully. He felt a wave, much different from the buzzing already in his veins, burst through his body.

They broke apart and Gregor felt the enhancer overtake him completely as a blue haze enveloped him. Through it he could see himself fighting the axe man. He saw black blood squirting from the many wounds that his sword inflicted upon the decaying flesh. He saw the axe, taking wilder swings at his body as the axe man realized that he was losing. He parried and thrust feeling the sword drive into the man with a hollow thud. The Alira stumbled back off of his blade and collapse onto his knees. The sword had hewn a path straight through him, and dark liquid spurted from the gaping wound.

Gregor took his time walking up to the fallen Alira, feeling wonderfully in control of his abilities, yet strangely distant from the whole thing. The enhancer vibrated throughout his being with every jolt of his heart and he felt more powerful than he ever had before. This rush of happy adrenaline, the kaleidoscope effect of his eyes- this was what he lived for.

He dispatched the Alira swiftly, feeling a burning sensation overtaking him. 'No! It's not over yet!' He desperately told his body. Without a threat the enhancer would quickly disperse and he would be left, shaking and coming down off of something that the other ragers called the hangover. He needed to keep raging, needed to keep control of it, but he could feel his legs growing weaker as the blue haze pulled away from his vision. "NO!" he didn't mean to say it aloud but in his desperation his body reacted, sending another wave of the enhancer through his system.

Feeling better, Gregor turned towards Luxa just as she plunged her own weapon through the Alira's throat. Blood squirted both of them, as the Alira tried to break free of the metal jutted in its throat. With a final shudder it slumped, pulling Luxa's sword with it.

She retrieved it and turned to Gregor, her face flushed.

"Well… That wasn't too… hard." She said panting from her fight.

"…heh. Guess not."

He suddenly felt faint and closed his eyes. This was normal-his body didn't like to be pushed to its limit for long periods of time, but he knew that he had to stay focused for the fight at the northern gate. Hopefully it would be as easy as this one had been.

Ripred stood at the front of his small conglomeration of gnawers, wondering how nature had deigned him worthy to have to lead such a pathetic group of rats. He doubted that any of them would survive the attack much less the fire, but he hadn't told any of them that.

There was one small rat, still a pup by his standards that might live through the night. He had a sneaking suspicion that the pup was a rager, but he hadn't expressed this to him yet. He was waiting for something significant to happen. Something like a level 14. The pup might be able to rage if he was about to die. At least- that's what had happened to many ragers in the past, himself included.

He contemplated the gate in front of him. They stood in the river bank, right on the edge their whipping tails feeling the water flow near them. He had fifteen fools with him, and could see only 3 Alira. This upped their survival rate. He could take out one, possibly two in a few seconds, but knew that the incompetents with him would have a hard time dealing with the third.

Where were Luxa and the Overlander? A soldier had told him to meet them at the Northern Gate- and here they were looking out at the large stone barricade. The three Alira paced back and forth in front of the shut stone doors, each slinking about in their desire for a fight.

Looking through the sky he could see fliers, but none had the metallic sound of ar1es or the golden glow of the queens' bond. With a final huff his decision was made and the gnawers descended upon the Alira, ready for blood.

He could hear them before he saw them; the scream of the gnawers as they attacked and fell. Gregor felt a chill go up his spine and pulled Luxa closer to him as they flew dangerously fast on ar1es. The distance between the Eastern and Northern gate was surprisingly vast and he needed to get there fast before the enhancer wore out. The noises grew louder and suddenly they were upon them. Flames spewed over the top of the wall casting a bright glow to dance upon the shadowy figures below. Gregor instantly recognized Ripred, who was fighting a woman Alira with everything he had. Gregor could see that he was raging; an aura seemed to radiate his deadliness. He seemed unable to get close to the woman—and after studying her he realized why. She was carrying a whip that cast shattered light into the darkness. It seemed to be encrusted in something but Gregor couldn't tell what. There had to be at least a dozen rats that had fallen to the Alira. He could only see three but he wasn't sure if there were more. The mass of heat, and blood clouded his echolocation.

Dropping low to the ground he let Luxa go and she jumped down to land knee high in mud and gore. Wading through it she made her way towards a small rat that seemed to be holding his own against an Alira that had deadly aim with his bow and arrows.

Gregor coasted down next to Ripred, stopping far enough away to ensure that he wasn't caught in the rats deadly rampage. Ripred pulled away from the fight, spitting blood. The whip, which Gregor could now see has small shards of glass imbedded in it, had raked across his face, leaving a bloody gash along the rat's muzzle. He sprung back with a grunt of frustration. Sensing Gregor's presence he turned and spat out, "Well it's about time you got here."

Gregor ignored him, leaping in between the Alira and Ripred, "I'll handle her you go get the fat one."  
Ripred turned toward a grotesquely large Alira who was currently cutting down many rats with his obscenely huge broadsword. Ripred shrugged- this wouldn't take long.

Luxa flipped out of the way of an oncoming arrow, and it barely missed her. She felt the whoosh of air as it passed by her head, and her hair fanned out almost teasingly. She shook away the feeling and got back into position next to the gnawer. He looked at her and she could see something that she recognized in the way his eyes pierced her.

"Are you a rager?" She asked and he blinked.

"I don't think so…" He said and turned away from her looking confused. She wasn't so sure. The next arrow shot her way wasn't as easily dodged and she hissed as the sharp metal cut through her shoulder. She reflexively flinched out of the way in time to see the little rat jump straight at the Alira's throat. He landed on top of him with a thud and began to rip into his rotten flesh with his claws. The Alira screamed and hissed displaying a shriveled tongue behind blackened teeth. The gnawer finished him in one swift bite and Luxa was surprised by his ferocity. The gnawer turned toward her his face covered in gore and she saw the fear in his eyes. He stumbled towards her. It was then that she saw the long sword stuck in his side. The Alira must have been concealing one. She grabbed onto him as he slumped down and tried to hold him aloft as she called for help.

Aurora came swooping down through the smoke and landed near them.

"Aurora I need you to take him up to one of the medics!" Luxa cried out and Aurora nodded. She got as low to the ground as possible and Luxa helped her injured ally onto the flier's back. Luxa ran to Aurora's head and squeezed her around the neck.

"What would I do without you?" She said burying her face in the golden fur.

"Well, I suppose you would have to learn to fly." Aurora teased her and took off.

It was delightful. The feeling of power flooding through every vein in his body was absolutely wonderful. The Alira had not attacked Regalia in quite a while and as the queen's bond Ripred hadn't had much time to hunt them down in the Firelands.

Now with the knowledge of certain death awaiting him he dove into another battle. Each drop of blood, each beat of his heart was one closer to his end, but he could already tell that this opponent wouldn't be the one to stop him permanently.

He pulled back encircling the large man. He was carrying a broadsword and wore heavy armor from head to toe, but through the chinks Ripred could see that he was in one of the more gruesome stages of decay. His olive skin bulged with muscles and fluids and he moved lethargically. Yet he seemed to be able to predict Ripred's every move with strong counterattacks to follow.

Ripred could see one weak point showing in his fractured vision- The neck. As the Alira moved to attack Ripred went for it, dodging the blow and sinking his polished fangs into the rotten flesh. He reeled back from the taste and gore exploded from the Alira- leaving the body to slouch over in a worn-out heap. Ripred looked down at himself- covered in blood and gore and then over at Luxa and Gregor, who were both looking rather pristine and wondered what had happened to the children he used to be able to scare with a snarl.

Gregor could feel it wearing off. He knew that he should have taken more, but he didn't realize that he would have had a break in between fights. If he had continued to rage he could have gone on for hours, but the small time that it took to get to the North gate had been enough time for his body to start to come off of the Enhancer.

He shook his head to clear it and had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by the whip. She truly was a difficult opponent. Gregor highly doubted that anyone below rager level would be able to get near her. She didn't seem to be decomposing as much as the other two- which meant she was fresh- from the last day or two. The Alira inside of her was still very aware of its surroundings and could use her body to manipulate the whip like it had been attached to her at birth. She brought the long leather strip back to her side, all the while pressed against the wall. Gregor had been contemplating how to get her away from it- she seemed to be glued to the spot.

He dived in again and the whip came down. He had to jump back to get away from it. If only he could get close to her. He tried coming in from the side and was rewarded with a gash on his arm a few inches long. He shook his head and his vision fractured again. He felt the rager side slipping into action and he looked attentively for an opening.

Another crash of glass against stone resounded through the already chaotic sounds of the battle. Gregor watched as she pulled it back and had an idea. It was twisted and dangerous but it might just give him a shot. He pulled up the hood attached to his armor and took a deep breath- wondering if he was crazy.

'_I have to get near he,' _he thought and threw himself in her line of fire. The whip slammed down into his back and he felt the sharp sting of glass as it cut through his skin. With one fluid motion he sheathed his short sword and reached up to grab ahold of a section of whip. She jerked it back and he felt a jagged piece of glass but he held on tight and pulled her slowly toward him.

She fought back, pulling and screeching- refusing to let go. With a final jerk he pulled her close, running her through with a clean stoke of his blade. She raked her claws over his face and held on to his shirt as the life drained out of her. Black fluid poured out of her eyes and nose as she fell to the ground, taking Gregor to one knee. He reached down and withdrew his weapon and then worked her hand free of the whip handle.

Moving slowly so he wouldn't aggravate his wounds he moved away from her and motioned at ar1es to torch the body. His hover board glided down and incinerated her twisted form. The remains were gone within a moment. Looking over to check on Luxa and Ripred he saw both of them walking through the mass of gnawer bodies checking for survivors. Every so often one would call out to a bat above and have a bleeding rat carried away.

Gregor gathered the handle and the end of the whip and held them firmly in his hands. He didn't want any of the glass to come out of his back until he could get to Howard or another doctor. He signaled and ar1es swooped over to pick him up. The other two Alira bodies lay smoldering against the gate. A team of soldiers were already attaching ropes to the large stone doors to begin opening them.

Ar1es made a clicking noise that Gregor had learned was his sound for irritation.

"Okay, okay! I'm hurrying." Already the enhancer was dispersing through his body and he could feel every muscle aching for more of the drug they craved. He closed his eyes off fighting nausea as the room spun. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and went to step onto ar1es but everything seemed to lengthen before his eyes and he found that he was tilting. The world, now all bright colors and long shadows was moving sideways and he recognized the feeling in the pit of his stomach- he was falling. He hit the ground and everything was black, yet it felt as though he was falling through the ground, through the rock, falling into the dark abyss that swallowed him readily.

**And that's a wrap! OMG-wilikers I haven't written this story in so long and this chapter just took FOREVER!  
Thanks to Charlotte Wilks who encouraged me with sweet reviews and PMs. I dedicate this chapter to her.**

**Okay now comes the time where I beg you to take a few minutes to review and hope I don't sound pathetic. It would really help me if I could tell if my fighting scenes seemed authentic. I want to publish real books someday and I would be forever grateful for any advice anyone has to offer :)**


	18. Scars

**Disclaimer- I own nothing that you recognize. **

**A/N: Such. a. long. Break! I haven't written anything in so long! Auuuggghh! I have too much school work and when I'm free I really have to be in the right mood to write. Anyway here is kinda a fluff/plot-expander/between-action (which means boring) chapter!**

**Oh and review! Please do!**

**Also I apologize now. This chapter is really romantic and really Gluxa and I blame all the romance movies I've been watching late at night. Oh yeah! Guts and Gore will come soon I promise. We are nearing the end folks!**

"Luxa?"

She swiveled around to him as he blinked at the sudden light. His head felt heavy and he could tell that he had been asleep for a while.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him. He replied with a simple "MMmmph." He glanced over at the smile she tried to hide behind her hand.

"You were poisoned." She said, answering his question before he could ask it. She knew him too well, "That she-demon coated the glass with her venom."  
"Ahh, Lovely." He mused as he began to move his body an inch at a time. The slashes on his back stung mercilessly and he ignored them and took inventory of everything else; all seemed normal.

He sat up pushing the pain to the back of his mind and Luxa stood to support his shoulders. He looked at her petite hands resting on the soft blue fabric of his hospital robe, hands that held such power, such promise.

"I've got this." He said taking one of her hands with his. She watched apprehensively as he pushed the covers back and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. He felt her hand squeeze his, cautionary, as he clambered to his feet. He smiled down at her and said, "See all better."  
"I do not believe you." She said but let go of his hands, "Howard left these for you." She bent down and retrieved a clean shirt and a new pair of Underland pants.

"Where is Howard, by the way. I want to know if I'm good to travel?"  
"He's with your friend Chloe. He seems to have taken a real fancy to her."  
"What! Really? Isn't he old!"  
"Ha! Gregor! You need to be less small minded. There is an age gap- I would say about six years- which is not uncommon down here."

"Huh. I guess he just seemed really old the last time I was here."

"Yes. Well we have all done quite a bit of growing since then. Here let me help you with this." She reached for the hem of his shirt and he stiffened his breath becoming rapid. No one saw his scars- not even someone who he had trusted with his heart and soul for so many years.

"It's okay," She said, "We have to trust each other with our secrets." She pulled up his shirt past his navel, revealing the twisting scar made by the digger's claws. She looked into his eyes as the material lifted above the first of the five gashes running across his chest.

He stared through her eyes, heart pounding out of his marred chest. She pulled the shirt further up and he pulled his arms out of the sleeves. She pulled the satiny fabric over his nose and as his hair fell back down around his face he leaned in so close to her face that each of her breaths sent shivers down his spine.

Her eyes were incredible and so full of emotion. He could see in her eyes the feeling that was overwhelming him. Unending Love. He knew that there would never be someone else for him—it really was as simple as that. The sky was blue. Bats could talk. And Luxa was his one and only.

He closed the distance between their lips and tasted the sweetness that reminded him of their first kiss. He pulled her closer, never wanting it to end and trying to convey every reason why he loved her in that one kiss. The warmth of joy spread over his entire body but was soon dampened as he felt her small hands on his chest, not holding but pushing. She was pushing him away.  
He pulled back and looked at Luxa, who was currently occupied with tracing one of his scars with the tip of her index finger. She sniffed and pursed her lips, refusing to look him in the eye. He stayed silent, betrayed.

"I… I have to tell you something." She said, yet her voice choked on the last word, "And you are not going to like it." She said finally meeting his hurt gaze with a look that seemed to stop his heart. He couldn't speak.  
"I-" She was interrupted by footsteps in the hallway. She shoved the shirt into his hands and drew the privacy drapes around his bed quicker than lightening.

He could see her silhouette standing just outside the curtain, so close yet so far away. _What was that about?_ He thought, pulling the clean shirt over his head. _Why does she do stuff like this?_

"Cousin," He heard Luxa say.  
"Ahh Luxa, I should have guessed you would be here." Gregor didn't miss the note of exasperation in Howard's voice. _Fight it all you like _Gregor grinned to himself _I dare you_, but lost the smile as Howard stepped through the curtain.

"Hey, Howard. How are you doing?" Gregor said pulling the clean pants up. He felt better now that he had changed.

"I am well," Howard said, "And I am happy to see that you are on the mend. I have noticed that you have a trend of giving me trouble on the battlefield." His tone was stern but his eyes betrayed him. Gregor smiled, "Well getting hurt is one of my many talents."  
Howard shook his hand and motioned for Gregor to turn around. He felt his shirt rise and Howard said, "These probably will not scar. The wounds were not deep, but the poison was strong. How is your heart feeling?"  
"It's good. Am I okay to travel?"  
"Well I want you to rest on the journey but we are ready to leave for the Alira's lair as soon as you feel well enough to travel. This is not in any way a reason to rush this. I want you take it easy and be honest about how your body feels. Poison is a tricky thing—it could be lying dormant in your system and could come back at any time."

"Okay," Gregor said taking in the information, "So I'm good to travel now?"  
"First I need you to eat something. And keep it down. Energy is important, Gregor."

"Yep. Got it." Howard clapped him on the shoulder. As he walked around the curtain Gregor called out to him, "Oh and Howard? Thanks again." Howard smiled and nodded, walking out of the room.

Gregor pulled back the curtain and sighed in dismay as he realized that Luxa was nowhere to be seen.

_What is going on with her?_

**So what do you think? This chapter was pretty short and pretty smoochie-good-feelings! You should review and tell me what's going on with you. I need to know if I am pleasing people. I can't fix what I don't know is broken. Reviewing only takes 2 minutes max too. Really. This was such a short chapter you should totally still have time to review.**

**Now onto business- I was going to make this chapter really really long, but the last chapter was like that so I broke it into two. So that means that I should only have 3 more good action chapters and a mellow epilogue.**

**Also I am totally still planning a sequel although I may put that on hiatus till Christmas.**

**If anyone hasn't read my short story called Inspiration you totally should. The summary sucks because I totally didn't want to give too much away but I'll give you a clue. It's a time travel fic. I'm sorry! I had just read "The Time Travelers Wife." Which is a great book btw.**

**As always thanks to my reviewers. I had a list of everyone that had reviewed/favorite me but I lost it somewhere on my computer…hmmmm must find it!**

**You guys are so awesome!**

**Lee**


	19. The Battlefield

**Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin' (That's right I'm a Texan. All I own is cows and grass… actually I own neither of these so the first statement still reigns supreme)**

**Author's Note: Do you guys really read these? I was just wondering… hmmm….**

**Well anyway this is one big freaking BEAST of a chapter and it literally took me two months to write. I wasn't procrastinating, I wasn't busy—I just seriously **_**hated**_** all the revising I did to this thing. It was actually about 3 pages longer, but I cut it off where I did just because it was getting WAY TOO LONG!**

**So… you may be getting another update sooner rather than later because I have 3 pages of the next chapter already written.  
Seriously though. I worked REALLY REALLY HARD on this and I would love it if some people would find it in their hearts to review.**

**PART ONE**

It still smelled of blood. Like a putrid scar in the air the scent of gore lingered through the cavern; a recording of the horror that had ensued, even after seven long years. Gregor's stomach churned and he mentally admonished himself for eating anything before they left. He remembered the battle in vivid nauseating details.

The luminescent painted gnawers and spinners attacking the Bane's army. The smell of blood, smoke and something else that Gregor now recognized as pure animalistic fear. His own panic rising up as he realized the meaning behind Lizzie's distress call—S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S….

He shook his head and took a deep breath through his mouth in attempts to calm his aching stomach. Howard and Mareth had chosen their camp strategically; in a small side cave that could not be seen from the ground, 30 feet below. The entrance seemed completely impassable to rock, yet in all actuality it was a wide opening comoflauged by a large outcropping of rock.

High above their hideaway Gregor floated atop ar1es. The echolocation skill picked up everything in the room, as well as few feet down all of the tunnels.

Strangely it was all still. There were no signs of the Alira, alive or otherwise. Gregor felt a sense of unease. Ripred had said that they would have to sneak in and before they had left Mareth had warned them of the possibility of attack at any moment—saying that they would have to make camp further away from the battlefield and make the rest of their journey on foot.

But they had been met with no resistance, and when they met up with Ripred—who had left the day prior—he had a similar report.

Now they were in prime position o attack, yet the battle ground was eerily void of anything _to_ attack. Gregor wondered what their next move was. He recalled Luxa telling him of a chamber below the area where he had fought the Bane, but he couldn't see any obvious tunnels that would lead them there. He gazed once more around the cavern, deemed it safe for the moment and glided back into their camp. Here was no fire inside and many of the residents had curled up in their blankets to sleep off the journey. Gregor saw Luxa huddled under the safety of Aurora's wings.

Although there was no fire the cave was very warm. Howard, Hazard, Mareth, Luxa, Nike, Aurora, Creed, Devon, Zeva, Dalton, Kayla, 6 hover boards, four soldiers with their bats, Ripred and 3 other rats and two very small bats—that Luxa had called emergency messengers. That, including Gregor, was a total of 18 bodies that were crammed into the small cave along with armor, weapons, food and medical supplies.

Gregor shifted past the forms of his sleeping comrades, who had all heartily agreed to take up the watch shifts to let the weary Underlanders rest. He would wake Creed when he left, but for now he needed to talk to one person only.

He knew that the large rat was already awake—his eyes watched him as he made his way over sleeping forms. He reached Ripred and turned to whisper next to his ear but was cut off by Ripred's quicker tongue, "I'll tell them you're out scouting for Alira. If you don't remember—it's the tunnel to the left, behind the twisting rock."

"Thanks, Ripred."  
"Well I expected as most. Many of us spend our lives trying to say goodbye—this may be your only chance. And you owe me for this."  
In the darkness Gregor smiled, knowing full well that Ripred could see him, "I'll see you in a while."

Gregor stood in awe and horror at the white bones protruding from the ground, like gravestones in the snow. The Bane, once huge and dangerous was now reduced to nothing more than a few cracked bones marking the spot of the battle that ended a war. Gregor followed the bloodstains, now blackened with time and could picture the scene as if it had just happened. He saw the two largest pools that had been formed by Ares and the Bane and the drag marks that he himself had made trying to reach his bond.

He stood and stared for the longest time, working up the nerve to walk over to his long dead enemy. When his feet finally shuffled along the ground he wasn't quite sure if they were still connected to his body or if he had simply drifted out of his body to be a silent observer. He circled the large rib cage before coming face to face with the whitened skull of the rat once named Pearlpelt. Even in death he glowed with the luminescent whiteness that many of the Underlanders associated with him and him alone. But Gregor wasn't looking at the naked whiteness; instead he fixed his eyes upon the empty blackness of the eye sockets that seemed to stare into him, even after all of these years. He could remember Pearlpelt's eyes clearly—wide and rolling—tracking Aries as he flew around him in deft circles. He remembered how they looked as he attacked. He remembered how they looked when he cried. He remembered how they looked when he died.

But now there were no eyes to stare at him—only blind sockets that spoke more of Gregor's sin than anything else in the world.

He stood that way for a long time and finally said, "I'm sorry. We were both too young to be involved in all of this," he gestured all around him—to the bloodstains and battleground, "We didn't know what we were doing and we got caught up in one of the true horrors of the world."  
Now that he had started he didn't feel like he could stop.

"I didn't really think I would live. I mean yeah I had hope but there were times when I felt like I was really saying goodbye. But I guess the only one I really didn't say goodbye to was you."  
He reached a shaking hand out to touch the spot in between the hollow eyes. He remembered cutting the Bane in this exact spot, the rich blood soaking his white coat, "I'm sorry that I killed you. I wish there had been another way, but the war could not go on, and I hope that one day I will be able to repay you for taking your life."

He removed his hand, knowing that that was all he could say or do. The Bane's body had not been moved for formal burying, but Aries must have been in the two weeks that Gregor had been unconscious. He had never asked, but Ares' body was nowhere to be seen and he didn't think that the Underlanders would have let Ares stay in a place like this.

Gregor's cell phone went off, making him nearly jump out of his skin. There was no reception this far down, although Lizzie had told him that their emergency alarms would still go off. He looked down to see that he was receiving distress calls from all of his team members. In moments ar1es was at his side and he leapt atop him, his feet making contact with the board just in time for it to shoot into the tunnel.

Soaring back to the main battle room Gregor's mind whirled in anticipation of what was to come. What had happened? Was everyone still alive? What if…?  
He couldn't keep going. He shook his head and reached down into one of ar1es compartments and pulled out the dark bottle of enhancer. Chugging a few more swigs than was really needed he felt the cool feeling of it coursing through his veins, spreading further out and feeling more powerful and calm with each heartbeat.

With a final breath he was swept out of the cave and into a living nightmare.

Gregor knew he had been sick. He could make it out through the haze of raging—there was a taste in his mouth that was unmistakably bile and from the way he was leaning on the wall instead of killing something he reasoned that it had just happened.

They had been fighting for hours. The Alira never stopped flowing into the cavern. They had been so stupid to make themselves vulnerable like they had, but it was far too late to change anything now. Feeling his stomach heave he leaned over once again to painfully vomit into the shadows. He was above everyone else (he assumed that ar1es had flown him out of the fray when he became ill) and was now situated securely on a cliff above the battle. Gregor looked up from his retching to do reconnaissance of the situation.

His team members could be accounted for, although Creed's hover board seemed to be sparking as it flew along. Ripred was across the battlefield, spinning at a blinding speed and tearing down many Alira with each circuit. Gregor felt his stomach drop as he realized that he couldn't find Luxa anywhere, but felt relief as he saw Aurora diving out of the shadowy stalactites above to attack. He couldn't see some of the soldiers that they had brought along, but the battle was crazy and in their dark armor they weren't exactly highlighted for easy detection.

Feeling nauseas once more he leaned over and retched, but this time nothing came up. He wondered what was with his body, but realized that he was probably rejecting all of the enhancer he guzzled down before the battle started. Straightening he realized that he had a strange ringing in his ears. It was almost as if he couldn't hear anything. He pounded on his ear as he turned to face the cliff and with a jolt realized that it wasn't his ears that had fallen silent, it was the battle.

Everything had stopped. There was absolutely no movement below. Each Alira had turned its body to face the direct center. It was almost exactly like when all of the cockroaches had made the strange circle dance around Boots, however this time the centerpiece chilled him to the bone.

White matted fur and a gaping mouth, dripping with saliva and blood. Startling red eyes that swiveled around taking in everything in the room. A long thin tail that twitch back and forth like the head of a snake.

His breath caught in his throat as he recognized it. He had pictured it in his mind from the moment Lizzie had described it to him. Even now he could make out the four scars that striped over one of it's eyes, grotesquely squeezing it shut. He had had nightmares for years about this Alira but had never come across it. It was the cat who had killed his parents.

And now it had Luxa pinned under one clawed paw.

**PART TWO**

Gregor could feel himself shaking, but he couldn't stop. The tension in his body was painful as he stood watching the Alira that had murdered his family taunt him with the life of the woman he loved. He didn't know what to do. If he moved it was sure to see him and would immediately kill Luxa. The rest of his team must have realized this too, as no one else was moving. Luxa was struggling, but she had lost her sword when the Alira had attacked. Gregor couldn't see Aurora anywhere.

Pulling himself slowly into the shadows he began to creep around the rim of the cliff, carefully staying within the boundaries of the darkness. He used his hood to conceal his face and wondered if the Alira, being a cat, would be able to see him even in the inky darkness. It was a chance he was going to have to take.

He stopped as the cat's head turned toward him, and held perfectly still—barely daring to breathe. Then the cats' deep bloodthirsty eyes turned to scan the rest of the cave—it hadn't seen him. But there was an animal that had. Gregor caught sight of Ripred who was staring intently at him. The large rat nodded, almost imperceptivity and Gregor knew what was going to happen. Without a moment's hesitation Ripred sprung at the nearest Alira—tearing it nearly in two, and began fighting his way towards the large albino cat. It's eyes were on him as he tore at Alira after Alira. Its tail flicked in agitation as Ripred drew closer, but since he wasn't directly attacking it the cat didn't kill its hostage.

Gregor took his opportunity to get directly behind the Alira. He knew he could make it if he took a running start, but the trick was to make no noise while he did it…

Ripred was getting close to the cat, and Gregor could feel it tensing up, ready to kill. He stepped back as far as he could go, pressing his back firmly against the stone wall and took off, running at full speed till his feet weren't hitting stone anymore.

He rocketed out from the ledge, and watched as the white body of the Alira came closer. He could feel his stomach rising towards his pounding heart and knew that he had only seconds till impact. With his sword drawn and ready he took one last breath, praying to all heaven that both he and Luxa would make it out alive after this.

He felt his muscles tense and release as he sprung from the wall—rocketing forward into the darkness past the line of shadows and beyond the safety of the cliff.

And Gregor the Overlander leaped.

**A/N: I'm not going to say that I live for the gratification of reading reviews but… well actually I kinda do look forward to "review checking time" every day…**

**Hmm… maybe I'm a review junkie? Well anywho—this deplorable addiction to reading what you think of my work is important to me and it should be important to you. I can't make my chapters better if I don't know what you're feeling right?**

**SO REVIEW!**

**Oh and give me suggestions as to what you want in the sequel. I already have a very thought out plan but that does not mean that I can't change it completely if someone's idea sparks my fancy. I need to know **_**before**_** I write my epilogue of this, because it leads to that!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Lee**


	20. Vengeance

**Disclaimer time!: This is the part of the story when I tell you that I don't own anything and I will never own any of this. Suzanne Collins owns it and I am not she. **

**Author's Note: Okay so this update came fast and furious! I have been in a writing phase recently and I just kept going! YAY! We're almost done. Huge battle scene in this and the next chapter!  
Happy Reading and don't forget to review!**

He hadn't expected it to last that long—the fall, that is. He had landed on the back of the cat driving his sword directly into its back. It had made a horrible screeching noise as it reared up. Gregor held fast to the hilt and felt the world tilt. The cat, large and horrible, fell hard against the ground and with a resounding crack the floor gave way and Gregor felt himself fall even further into the unknowable darkness.

When the cat's body finally hit the hard ground Gregor pulled out his sword, scrambling out of the way of its vicious claws that came faster than he had expected. Parrying he forced the claws away from himself, and dove away from the teeth that came straight at him.

He pulled himself to his feet just in time to dodge the cats' second blow, but by now Luxa was in the fray—attacking with her quick slender blade, although Luxa wasn't very accurate for she was fighting in the dark. The feline hissed as it spun to claw at its new attacker, but Gregor was quick to step in and draw the attention back to him.

Gregor hadn't expected its tail to be so strong, but as it knocked him far out of range he mentally kicked himself for not expecting it. The cat turned to Luxa who was standing ready, but Gregor was charging the Alira at full force.

The cat, having never changed targets from Gregor, turned to him unexpectedly pouncing upon him at once—knocking his blade away. It skittered across the stone floor that was littered with boulders from their fall. Gregor felt the hot breath upon his face and soon the stinking putrid air was all he knew.

With a jolt he realized that the cat had taken him into its mouth. He tried to stand, but the teeth were clamped down tight and the world was tilting forwards. Did it plan to eat him whole?

He could hear Luxa screaming his name over and over again from the ground far below. He almost wanted to tell her to run away while he had it distracted, but knew that she never would do it even if it was the more logical thing to do.

He was slipping and slipping fast. He grabbed onto his belt and pulled out a spare dagger he kept concealed there. Plunging it into the nearest flesh seemed to be like the best idea, but it quickly failed as the cat reared up, opening its mouth to scream and clamping it back down on one of his flailing legs. Gregor cried out as he felt the serrated teeth tear through muscle down to his bone. The whole world turned red as his brain tried to process what had happened. He gasped and hung onto the dagger, his only stronghold in the world. Gasping for air he tried to move his leg but it was impossible, the cat had a strong grasp on him. As the world was growing quiet, the smells and sounds of the cat dissolving into unconsciousness Gregor reached for his last hope. Lizzie had slipped it into his pocket right before he had left—telling him to use it only in an emergency.

Pulling the small round grenade from his pocket he brought the pin to his mouth and ripped it out. Feeling the world around him going out of focus he let it drop, hoping that the blast would not kill him as well.

… … …

Gregor didn't know how long he had been unconscious but from Luxa's hoarse voice he could tell that she had been screaming his name for a while. He raised his head to check out his surroundings, but found that there was no movement from the cat. Had the grenade worked?

"GREGOR! PLEASE ANSWER ME!" Luxa was somewhere nearby, and her voice broke from the strain.'

"I'm here" His voice was inaudible. He tried again, "Luxa! Here—I'm here!" This time she heard him and her voice was quieter as she answered.

"Gregor! Oh thank Sandwich you are alive. I could not tell—there is so much blood! And the Alira! Something happened to its stomach—it seemed to explode! It is dead Gregor—and I thought you were too!" She broke off at the end, not able to continue through her tears.

"Luxa… Luxa!"  
"Yes?"  
"Where are the others? Are they alright?"  
She sniffed, "I can still hear the battle going on above. Ar1es is here with me but I do not know how to make him work. What shall we do? Your leg-," He felt her tentative fingers against his protruding flesh and hissed through clenched teeth.

When he had caught his breath he said, "I have to…get out of here. So I need you to help me… get my leg free."

"What should I do?"

"I need you to push up its top jaw so I can move it. Ar1es—," He waited until he could hear the board humming near his head, "Attach to the top teeth and pull upwards." The board took a few moments to compute the command and then hooked one long claw against the teeth.

"Alright, Luxa you get the other side." Luxa was already in place her hands on either side of his legs holding the sharp teeth.

"On three you have to lift up. Ready? One… Two…," He took a deep breath and bit down on his hand, "Three-AAHHHHH!" It was muffled behind his hand, but Luxa and Ar1es got the picture. The teeth released his leg with a horrible squelching sound and he tasted blood as his bit into his hand.

There was barely room to pry his leg away but he managed to, although he made an awful noise in the process. There was a flash of light and he knew no more.

… …

She was calling his name again, this time in a quiet voice.

"I'm awake." He said, not knowing if he was talking to her or to himself.

"Gregor. Are you okay? You need to get out before you bleed to death."

"Can you lift the teeth again? I will try to crawl out."  
"No, Gregor. I am sorry. We have been trying while you were unconscious but I am not strong enough to make a big enough hole for you to climb out of."  
Gregor sat there panting for a moment before realizing that his only option lay in going deeper inside the animal that held him hostage.

"Luxa. I'm going to crawl out through the stomach! Is the hole big enough?"  
He heard her moving away from him. He felt dizzy and sick but forced his eyes to stay open.

"I believe so," She said as she returned, "But how will you breathe?"  
"I'll just have to crawl down quickly. Ar1es?" The bat hummed, "Be ready to help Luxa pull me out. I don't think I'll be able to stand up."

"Gregor, please be careful!" Luxa said a note of panic in her voice.

"I will." He said reassuringly, although he felt no confidence in himself. There was a good change that he wouldn't be able to get down to the stomach without passing out, but he still had to try.

Clicking to get a clear picture of the soft tunnel before him he took several deep breaths before finally sucking in one giant lungful and plunging in.  
It was dark and warm and the walls pushed against him on every side. He felt his injured leg being crushed by the force of the esophageal walls. He nearly screamed out as he pulled himself further down, but held it in. He could feel the blood pumping through his head and knew that he only had a little more time before he passed out.

He squirmed pushing and pulling—trying to force his way downward, but it felt like he wasn't going anywhere. The walls seemed to clamp down even further as he panicked and with his final bit of energy he reached as far down as he could go, feeling the world fade away with every second.

Suddenly warm hands grasped his own and he felt himself being tugged sharply down. He fell into a pool of blood, gasping for air and crying out as his leg was twisted horrible beneath him.

And then Luxa was there, pulling him out of the dark cavern of the beasts' stomach and soothing him with her voice.

He tried to use his echolocation to see but his brain was so muddled that the images came back distorted and spinning, making him feel nauseas.

"S-stop!" he said. When Luxa continued to drag him away he raised his voice, "Luxa! Stop!"

She did and leaned him back on her chest. He gasped as he fumbled to get a clear picture of the world. He clicked downwards and saw that his leg was clearly broken, the bone poking through the leaking flesh and twisted at a horrible angle. Luxa was saying something but he couldn't make it out. Finally he understood, "Gregor? Can you understand me?" He nodded and then realized that she couldn't see him.

"Yeah." He said.

"I need to get you to a wall so that I can treat your leg. Can we move again."  
"Yeah." He didn't want to but it made sense. Bracing himself for the pain once again he felt Luxa drag him a few more feet until she propped him against the rocky wall.

She moved down and he felt her probing his injury. He heard a guttural moan echo through the cavern before realizing that it was coming from him.

"I need a light. Ar1es—do you have a light on you?" Gregor could hear Ar1es drawing closer upon Luxa's request. The click of the light turning on was almost drowned out by Luxa's gasp, which turned into a moan of her own. Looking down Gregor could tell that his leg was in really bad shape.

"Here," He said pulling his shirt over his head with shaking hands. He gave it to Luxa who began tearing it into bandages. He leaned back and closed his eyes as she began wrapping the bandages tight around the protruding bone. It hurt like hell but he bit his tongue until he tasted blood and kept as quiet as possible.

Finally it was finished and Luxa used the remaining cloth to dab the sweat from his face. He tried to thank her but his words would not come.

"Shhhh…," She said softly, "You've lost too much blood. We need to get you out of here."  
Gregor nodded and as he did his head hit something round and smooth. He realized that there were more of the thing prodding into his back. Turning slightly he grasped the smooth stone near his head. It felt like a cup of some sort attached to the wall. It was a completely smooth semicircle with a hollow bowl cut into the top.

"Ar1es…" he choked out. The light was brought upwards from his leg to the wall as Luxa came to inspect what Gregor was looking at. The wall, unlike the rest in the cave was completely smooth, save for the hundreds of little cups that lined it. Each cup had a roman numeral on it. Gregor could remember his dad and sisters learning them but he had never really paid attention. Ar1es flew back and the light took in the whole wall. With a gasp Gregor realized what it was.

"It's a door." He said, feeling his heart beating faster. The new adrenaline pumping through his veins gave him the energy to focus and he pushed himself away from the wall gazing upward. It was a huge stone door covered in tons of little cups, each one meticulously numbered. A crack split the wall in two, and a pentagram decorated the exterior, drawn in what Gregor suspected to be blood.

"Gregor," Luxa said in a hushed voice, "Do you think this could be the door to the source of the Alira's power?" He nodded. This was definitely the work of some more intelligent being, and an evil one at that. He was so close he could taste it. All of the years hunting and killing the Alira were about to be over. His parents would be avenged and his sisters would be safe. He could teach the team how to be normal humans—and maybe help them reenter society.

He pushed himself up, balancing on his good leg. Luxa stood and held onto his arm.

"We have to go in." He said glancing around for his sword. It was on the ground a few feet away. He hobbled over ignoring Luxa's protests and picked it up—feeling the cool leather of the handle fit into his calloused palm. It was a feeling that he knew well and it strengthened him. His leg hurt horribly, but he knew that he had to go through the door—it was an irrefutable, non-negotiable fact. He had been born to do this. Even if he didn't believe in Sandwich's prophecies, he did believe in his gut and it was telling him that the thing behind the doors was his to end.

"Gregor. We need to get you back up to Howard. He needs to treat your leg!"  
Gregor shook his head, "Luxa—Howard is up there fighting for his life. If we can get in here and defeat whatever is controlling the Alira then we can all go home, but if we go back up there we'll be fighting until the last one of us falls! This is our chance to stop this war!"  
Luxa was silent as she contemplated this. Finally she nodded and said, "How will we get in? The door seems too heavy for us to bear."  
It was Gregor's turn to think. He walked closer to the door examining the cups, "Maybe it has something to do with these?" He said.

"Yes. I was thinking that too. But what are we supposed to do?" Luxa placed her finger into one of the cups. There was a small hole in the bottom. She felt another and found the same thing.  
"Maybe we are to put something in it?" She said, uncertainly.

"It's some sort of drain," Gregor said examining one of the cups, "So it'll need to be a liqui-"

He cut himself off in sudden realization.

"What?" Luxa said, coming over to him.

"Blood." Gregor met her eyes and saw the confusion there, "We'll have to put my blood into the cups! That's what Sandwich said right? My blood was the key. It's like a literal key!"  
"I thought you didn't believe in the prophecies?" Luxa asked poking him in the side.

"Well I don't but it really does make sense this time doesn't it. To make it go into the holes it has to be a liquid and you and I are the only ones with blood in our bodies here."

"Well… it does make sense. But which one do we put it in? I don't think you have enough blood to fill all of these."  
Gregor gazed around, "What about…666?"  
"666?" Luxa looked over at him, "What is that?"  
"You know, the devil's number or whatever."

"Well in Roman numerals a six are a V and an I." Luxa said. Of course she would be well versed in Roman numerical terms. What else would they teach princesses in the Underland?  
Gregor hobbled down to the end and said, "I think this only goes up to three hundred, so that's out."  
"Well…maybe another number. What else symbolizes evil?"  
"Uh…13?" Gregor said remembering the Friday the 13th movies that Creed made him watch.

"It'll be up there." Luxa pointed and hey both clambered onto Ar1es. They were there in less than a minute. Gregor took the tip of his sword and sliced his thumb open. Holding it over the cup he let a few drops fall from his finger and run sickly down the side of the cup to disappear into the darkness.

They waited but nothing happened.

"Well so much for that idea." They sat in silence as Ar1es hovered up and down the wall.

"Luxa? Didn't you say something about Sandwich writing the prophecy more than once?"  
"Yes. He wrote it…" realization dawned in her eyes, "He wrote it 47 times…"

"That's it! Luxa that's it!"

XLVII. Cup 47. Gregor took a breath before squeezing his finger over the cup. The effect was immediate. The doorway groaned, filling the room with sound that Gregor could feel. Smoke poured out of the crack as the door opened outward. Ar1es slowly approached the opening and Gregor was surprised to see light coming from inside. Luxa shifted beside him and he saw her drawing her slim sword from its scabbard. Gregor retightened his grip as they entered the room.

Gregor could tell immediately that there was something wrong. The glowing blue light from the torches reminded him of the light in Sandwich's tomb but his echolocation told him that everything was bitterly cold, even the flames.

It was due to this that he didn't notice the dark figure hiding in the shadows. The walls were elaborately decorated, but the pictures were all of torture and death. Gregor gazed in horror as he recognized pictures of himself. There was one of himself leaping from the cliff being chased by the rats that were out to kill him and his family. Of him attacking the snakes in the mouse's deserted cave. Of him flying on Ares, fleeing his first fight with the Bane. Finally his eyes transfixed the floor upon which blood was painted in a detailed picture of Himself, Ares and the Bane locked together by teeth, claws and sword. He shuddered remembering it.

"Gregor…" Luxa squeezed his arm comfortingly, "What is this place?"  
He couldn't answer her for at that moment a monster from his darkest nightmares had stepped into the dim light. It's outline was fuzzy, almost if it blended into the shadows behind it.

But the figure was familiar. So familiar.  
He could see that he wasn't quite the same as he remembered. The basic features were the same, but there was undoubtedly something wrong with the way it moved, the way it carried itself. He shuddered as he realized that there were patches of fur attached to the skin of the human drawing closer to them.

And as the figure bared its teeth in a grotesque sneer, Gregor knew exactly who it was.

It was Henry.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNNN! HOLY COW! I can't believe that the climax is already here. It feels like I just started writing but in truth I have been working on this story for about 2 years now. Thanks to everyone that has been with me so far.  
I hope to hear from all of you in reviews!  
Lee**


	21. AN: FlameA coward in our Midst

Hello all,

Unfortunately I have been so busy with school work that I have not been able to update. I have literally had to study or do homework every day since I last updated. Yesterday and today I took some time to write more of my next (and climax) chapter. I am so excited to post it but I need to address one issue first. We have a coward in our midst.

I am not saying that I don't enjoy the occasional flame. I really do! I love constructive criticism and I want people to give me there raw feelings but there are a few things that I want to point out to you when you are reviewing ANY WORK.

Here is our coward. Their name is "breaker". The reviewer is anonymous and therefore I cannot send an email back to them letting them know how much I did not appreciate their reviews of my story. Here is their first review on my thirteenth chapter.

breaker  
2011-02-25 . chapter 13

i'm reading this because i want to check how you write, the way you write, and the way you're like. First off, you seem like a nice guy who has a lot on hi mind. second, you write as if you like to. you explain to us that it is hard, and i agree with that. i'm also writing an underland book. It is called Gregor and the shadows mystery. a lot of drama and death and romance in the book. finally, i think your a cool guy, and i like these chapters so far. good work.

First off I would like to point out that if you are anonymously reviewing (which means you don't want people to know who you are) then you shouldn't put the name of your fanfiction in the review. That's just silly. Now I know if I ever see a story titled "Gregor and the Shadows Mystery" I'll know exactly who you are! The next thing you should do is know your author a little bit more. My screen name is AuthorEmilyRay.

Emily. Ray. I am a female. You called me a guy twice and said "has a lot on hi mind" first off "his" is spelled wrong and I'm totally a girl. X- chromosomed. I will produce children someday. I have long hair and boobs. It's a total fact. Emily is a girl's name. I don't know how someone can miss something so awkwardly obvious.

Second off in a review you NEVER advertise your own work unless you are asking me to beta it. Then that's fine. In this review all breaker did was talk about how awesome and drama/death/romance filled his story was. Which is all fun and good…in the summary of his story not in the review of mine.

Finally the first sentence doesn't really make any sense. Of course you are doing those things. Everytime you read you do that! I'm sorry to say but in the writing department our coward, breaker is severely lacking.

Now I am probably going to get a little mad. I may edit things out so just know that the next part probably contained a lot more stuff than I would actually post. You can add in any angry comments that you would think I would say and you'll get the picture.

Here is Breaker's Second review. I had to rewrite it so I could delete all of the CUSS words added in. Idiot.

**Review by: Breaker**

**2011-2-25 Chapter 16**

"**Who…do you think you are saying the fount was attacked. Why does the fount have to fall, why cant it be regalia. You (insert a horrible name). sorry for the curses, but I like the why regalia falls in the book I'm writing. You (Insert another horrible three part word) but I still dislike you for saying the fount had fallen. Sorr about that. I hope you keep writing. And maybe we can become friends. MAYBE!"**

Isn't that just horrible! I mean who does something like that? I love flame but this is just retarded. For one thing nearly EVERY word is misspelled, the grammar is completely off and the sentences have random periods in the middle of them.

I am a college sophomore. I am going to nursing school. I just finished a 20 page lab report on Osmosis, Diffusion and Filtration in Cell Membranes and I have a 3.8 GPA.

I had a hard time reading your primitive language, that's how dumb you sound.

I'm just wondering, breaker- did you even think before you clicked submit? I mean seriously. The only one who looks silly is you.  
Let's break this puppy down.

Your first sentence "who…do you think you are saying the fount was attacked." Should have a question mark at the end of it. Horrible fail to you.

The next sentence contains TWO questions and is lacking even one question mark.

Thirdly you should NEVER SWEAR AT AN AUTHOR FOR WRITING WHAT THEIR HEART TELLS THEM TO WRITE! The correct way to tell me that you dislike my plot choices is to just tell me that. You are being completely ridiculous by cussing me out for making a plot twist that you do not like. Next time why don't you just suggest an alternative instead of whining like a child about how you don't like it.

Once again with mentioning your book! No offense but I seriously don't give a flip. Especially not now. I am a good friend and an even better enemy. Try to think of a color darker than black. Yeah you're on that list.

I would just like to point out that you apologized twice during this review and I didn't believe you either time. If you had just sat for a few minutes and erased the text before replying with a civil head you wouldn't have to apologize at all. This is what really made me mad. Of course you weren't sorry! I think you are trying to sound a lot cooler than you really are in a psychological effort to outdo me at writing, but unfortunately my friend you do not have the talent. Don't apologize for your curses, apologize for your lack of brain function.

You make it such a big deal that you absolutely HATE my story then you turn around and say "keep writing." Here my two questions—Would you keep reading? And Do I want such a loser to even have access to my work?

Finally you have the audacity to suggest that we might be friends in the future. I would never be your friend. Not even if you were the last person and I had the choice between you and an icepick in the eye. I would rather wander the earth alone than spend one minute in your presence. I hope you realize how much of a jerk you are. If you treat people like this in real life I am surprised if you have any friends at all. The word "Maybe?" cracked me up. Like if I'm good and rewrite the whole thing you'll go back and erase all the bad things you thought, wrote and drilled into me? Thanks but no thanks.

I love my story. The fount fell because they are a weak force and (as Henry will explain in my UPCOMING CHAPTER) he sent the Alira there to draw Gregor out of Regalia. So there. I thought it through and you didn't. It's called plot movement, something I'm sure your 'book' has nothing of.

I would just like to mention that I just beat you at your own game. This is a real flame. I am very angry and I used my intellect to make an argument that will hold against anything that you throw at me.

If I ever figure out who you are I know where the report button is. I will review every single one of your chapters just like you did mine and I will take you down.

My logic is infallible,

Emily Ray (the WOMAN)

P.S. Breaker—As a woman I seem to have more balls than you but if you find some in the next few days I suggest you review this and we'll see how much of a failure you really are.


	22. The Monster in the Flesh

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Just Suzanne's.**

**Author's Note: SO sorry for such a long break in between chapters. I kept rewriting this because I wanted all of the questions to be answered plus I wanted to make the battle epic! I think I've done both things (at least in my opinion) but I want your feedback as well.  
Thanks for sticking with me this far.**

**Lee**

Gregor felt frozen in a world that screamed at him to move. The horrible nightmare in front of him slowly slunk towards where ar1es was hovering. Luxa clutched onto Gregor's arm and he was thankful for it. He didn't know if he could stay standing without her support. The weight of him own breathing seemed too heavy to bear and each breath sent searing pain through his body.

As the monster drew nearer Gregor realized that he was wearing a shimmering silver fur cloak that gleamed horribly in the light of the torches. He recognized it instantly. Where the head would have been if the bane had not ripped it off was a hole that was now occupied by the nearly skinless muscly face of the traitor that had threatened him and his family. The long lifeless tail now dragged pitifully behind the ragged fur of the rat with the silver tongue.

"Her name was Twirltongue." The disjointed voice alone sent violent shivers down Gregor's spine. It was so familiar. Henry continued filling the silence with his ragged voice, "She has quite the interesting story you know. Born and raised in the filthy colonies of the gnawers where she lived and fought and killed for it. She found that talking was an easier way out of many problems, but the problem is the easier deceiving others became the quicker she deceived herself into believing she was something she was not. I believe the human here, Henry was his name? I believe he had deceived himself in the same way. You see…," He paused looking directly at Gregor and Luxa for the first time, "…they both believed they were happy."

Gregor didn't trust himself to open his mouth. His stomach was rolling horribly and his blood was pumping through his veins too quickly.

"Nothing to say? I had hoped that you would at least be able to speak to me before I killed you." Henry moved a step closer.

"Gregor," Luxa's voice was barely audible, cracked and filled with pain, "We have to get out of her. I- I can't do this." She was shaking like a leaf and Gregor wasn't sure if he was much better. He nodded to her and slowly nudged ar1es in the direction of the door.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you." Henry said his voice growing quieter which made Gregor strain to hear every word, "You see we haven't finished with our introductions."

With this the cloak fell from his dreadful shoulders and Luxa screamed out loud. Gregor would have too if there had been any air left in his body. The muscle and hanging skin continued down Henry's body but below the neck jet black tufts of fur clung to the dead cells. Dark claws jutted out from his feet, cutting into the ground below. Gregor's terror grew as two large dark wings unfolded from his contorted spine and creaked open revealing rips that Gregor himself remembered in minute detail. Ares.

"oh God no God no God no oh God please no," Gregor didn't know how long he had been saying this but his mind seemed to be stuck on this one phrase. The utter terror gripping his body was too much to comprehend. Luxa was sobbing into his arm her grip now transferred to his waist. He felt his knees buckle and they both fell onto the hard surface of his board. Ar1es, sensing their distress instantly reacted by flying further upwards but this was obviously the wrong thing to do.

Instantly Henry was in the air hurtling faster towards them with every down stroke of his massive wings.

Even if he had enough strength in him left to rage it wouldn't have had any use. Henry was upon them in seconds. Gregor was thrown as Henry's hulking form slammed into ar1es from the bottom. Luxa still clutched in his arms he fell screaming for ar1es to catch them. The board dived and Gregor's back slammed into the back, just before they would have hit the ground. He opened his eyes to see Henry once again driving his body faster and faster towards them, this time with gravity to speed him on. Out of instinct he pushed Luxa away and she fell the short distance to the ground, but there was no time for he himself to move. Henry's weight hit him full force and the sheer power of it drove ar1es into the stone floor. Sparks and metal flew everywhere and Gregor tried to cry out but Henry's disgusting hands were around his neck.

Suddenly the pressure was gone, the monster's attention now on the princess that was attacking him. She had Gregor's sword in her hands and was hacking away at his sinewy hide. Henry knocked away the sword every time she swung and seemed to be playing with her.

Gregor inched his way off of his board. His father had made ar1es for him when he turned fourteen and the bat had served him well. Gregor looked at the wrecked metal board on the ground and felt sick. How could he have let this happen? He should have taken Luxa's advice and not tried to fight whatever was in this chamber. He now realized that it was far too hard for him.

He stood, feeling his leg creak beneath him. It wouldn't last long. He would have to finish this or die but whichever happened it was going to happen soon. Luxa had driven Henry back to the center of the room, but was now having a hard time keeping her attacks precise. The demon was just too quick.

Gregor wondered if there would be a way to get her out of the room. The monster seemed to like talking… if he could distract him maybe Luxa would have a chance to go get help.

"Hey! Henry!" Gregor called out, his voice ringing in his ears, "How did you get into those bodies? I thought Alira only possessed the living?" Luxa looked at him and he motioned for her to retreat to him. Thankfully Henry stayed where he was, seeming pleased by the question.

"Well it was really quite simple, _Overlander_," The demon sneered at the word rolling the final r into a hiss, "I was hiding in here, biding my time. You see I was locked away to rot for two hundred years, only to be unbound by blood from a pure heart. Yours seemed to be pure enough when it dripped down from that crevice up there…" He motioned upward with a grotesque hand, the sinewy skin of his forearm wobbling with the movement.

"What are you doing?" Luxa asked from the corner of her mouth.

"Distracting him. You run and get help." He whispered—barely moving his mouth. Henry continued, seeming to not notice their conversation:

"Once I regained enough power I felt a sudden hunger for more. I needed a body, but I couldn't find one that would be good enough for me. When I first tasted your blood, ahh! How sweet it was… I wanted your body as well, but I ventured through the crevice and found that you had already gone." Henry lapped some of Gregor's blood from his claws and a definitive shiver ran down his entire length.  
"So you took Ares' body?" Luxa asked in a trembling voice.

"Not yet, _cousin." _ Gregor felt her jerk next to him, he pressed her closer to him, holding on to her to support her and himself._ Why wouldn't she just leave?_

"No. no, no, no. I didn't find the flier until I realized that the gnawer wouldn't be enough to sustain me. He seemed large enough, but then… he just went too quickly. That's when I found the flier, but I couldn't use him. Unfortunately the bond between him and the blood that had awakened me was too strong for me to control. His consciousness would have taken over mine and I couldn't have that happen, oh no. oh no, oh no. Couldn't have _that." _ He lost himself in thought.  
"If I had taken him in those moments he would have revived. You should be _proud, Overlander." _Henry's words were harsh and biting, "He loved you so much that even the power of a blood demon could not turn him against you. So I went in search of a body that would willingly submit to me, and hate the blood that drove its existence."  
"But… why? Why did the…body…have to hate me?" Gregor asked.

"The base of all existence is _hate, _boy. Demons run on _hate._ I live from _hate. When you spilt that blood you were committing murder! I was born from YOUR HATE!" _As he had continued his tirade the eyes that seemed to droop from the face became more pronounced, and the skin around them pulled back, stretching the gruesome expression even further. He turned from them and continued in a softer voice.

"The bones that I reside in must hate you, and everything you stand for. I could smell that hate from very far away. It was faint. Old. But it was there. I followed it and I found this." He gestured towards his human form, "Bones are beautiful things, you know. They keep for thousands of years. They lie there and wait for creatures like me to come and find them—to awaken them. You see, Bones…they never forget what happened to them. They'll always remember. Flesh is meaningless without bones - that's why I needed a good framework that was born of hate. Oh yes, oh yes oh yes oh yesssssss".

Gregor limped further away from Henry, dragging a stunned Luxa with him. The demon slowly followed, his footsteps making scraping echoes against the shimmering walls. Henry continued:

"There was no denying that the bones of this boy had a hate for you deep within them. They were the perfect tool, I only had one problem. It wasn't a body. I needed muscles. I needed skin. I needed a body, not a skeleton. So that," He unfurled his wings again in grandeur, "Is when I used the bat. This skeleton '_Henry'_ as you like to call it, hated both the flier and the Overlander, making him a perfect match for me."  
"But why did you even want to-" Luxa was cut off by the maniacal laughter emitting from Henry's mouth. The upturned corners peeled back revealing rotting flesh inside the mouth.

"_WHY! Why, you ask!" _He asked the skin stretching farther and farther as his mouth opened impossibly wide. Gregor was sure it would snap, "Because I _hate _you all. When I was locked away I vowed that one day I would come again to take back what is mine, and I have. The world with all of its inhabitants are mine, and you, _foolish cousin_ shall Never. Take. That. Away. From. ME!"

"GO! LUXA GO!" But it was too late.

With his last gnarled scream he hurled himself at the pair of them, and Gregor barely pulled Luxa out of the way of the nasty claws. With a spin the monster slashed again, this time taking some of Luxa's hair, and to Gregor's instant regret, some of her skin as well. She cried out but parried at the same time, using the dagger that hadn't been lost in their first battle.

He tried to forget that this was Ares. Tried to push away the memories of Henry laughing at one of Luxa's jokes. He tried to think of the creature in front of him as just another Alira, but he couldn't.

"So…how do you know us? Do you have their memories!" Gregor called out, stalling for time and praying that a plan would come to him.

"Yes… memories and feelings. Unfortunately it is not everything. I can tell that the boy hated both you and the flier but loved this one very much." He blew a disgusting kiss at Luxa who cringed away from him, "It's a bit tangled together but believe me when I say that they were both absolutely _delicious_."

He lunged again and Gregor had no choice but to put weight on his broken leg as he dove out of the way. With a hiss he felt Luxa land on it and for a moment his vision went white. She was dragging him away when the world came back to him. He could feel the endorphins wearing off and the pain in his leg was growing more painful by the second.

He saw the hulking figure lurching towards them and tried to cry out to warn Luxa but his voice caught in his throat. He clamped his fingers around the hilt of his sword and brought it up just in time to stop the vicious claws from tearing into them both. It was ripped from his hands the moment Henry swung, and it clattered into a shadowy crevice.

Luxa threw herself at her dead cousin trying to push him away but he simply picked her up and threw her far across the room. She hit the wall with an awful crack and fell motionless to the stone floor.

Henry advanced on him as Gregor tried to get to her. A sudden white pain from his leg made him stop. Henry was placing one clawed foot over the exact place it had been broken, and Gregor writhed under the pressure.

A stinking hand descended and dragged him by the throat to the wall, where Henry pushed him against the sharp rock. He couldn't breathe and Henry's every word pierced into his panicking brain.

"You're a fool, Overlander. You do realize that I used the memories of each and every being I devoured against you? I used your baby sister to get you down here. I searched for the bones of the false prophet, Sandwich and carved your instructions into the walls of his grave. I even spread the rumor that he had written them himself in some of the council meetings before you came. I sent Alira to the world above to find you. I sent them to Regalia and the Fount to lure you out of your castle. I sent my lieutenant to kill your parents so there would be _nothing_ standing in between us at this moment! So I could taste your blood one more time when it was _not so innocent! The corrupted are the delicacies of this earth! I have taken everything from you, I have ruined you and now I will take the very life in your veins! "_

Henry's sharp teeth were drawing nearer and there was nothing he could do. There was no struggle. There was no fight. He just could not go on. With a final breath Gregor closed his eyes knowing that he would be taking the final journey.

Something cold and wet hit his face. He opened his eyes wondering what had kept Henry from biting him and he froze in shock. The dark eyes of his deceased bond stared blankly at him just inches away. He looked down and saw the shiny point of his sword jamming out of the throat of his enemy.

He couldn't understand it. For the longest time he stared at the bit of metal that had nearly pierced him. Then a noise from behind Henry's heavy weight alerted him of another presence. The body fell to the side, dragging the sword with it and Gregor stared at his savior.

And through her tears his baby sister, the child he had practically raised, stared back.

"Boots?" His voice didn't sound like his own. Tear streaks ran through the dust on her face, making small rivers from her eyes. She struggled to hold in her sobs but they escaped her lips in bursts.

"Boots…what- what are you doing here. _What have you done?"_ Gregor stared from the lifeless body of the demon that was leaking the dark blood on the floor to his littlest sister who stood trembling before him.

"He-he was going to kill you." She squeaked out her voice trembling and weak. He lifted shaking arms and she fell into them.

"Why are you here? Oh God, how did you get here?"

"I remembered Gregor. I remembered everything after you left. I met an old friend… Temp brought me here." He smoothed her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder. His consciousness was fading and he was sure to be out in a few minutes, but the shock of seeing Boots here was keeping him awake.

"But, _why- _baby why did you come?" He felt her shaking and knew that no matter what happened in the future he would never forgive himself for not protecting her from this place.

"I- I wanted to prove that I could be on the team. I just wanted to fit in." She rested her head on his chest, not looking at him. Her tears were still flowing but her sobbing seemed to have stopped.

"But… but sweetie- It's not that you're not good enough to be on the team. It just that I only allow ragers to join—"

"I'm a rager, Gregor."

Her words made his world cease to function, "…_what!"_

"I wanted to tell you a long time ago… but I just couldn't figure out how to. I didn't know how you… how you would take it…. I didn't want you to be mad at me…"

It took Gregor quite a while for all of it to sink in but he finally said, "I'm not mad at you Boots. We are born with some things that we can't control having, but I am… I am pretty disappointed in myself for not being available to talk about it… You are—you are so special to me and I don't want anything to come in between us. I'm so sorry."

"I know. I know and I'm sorry… I was just so _scared _…" She began to cry in earnest now, her face once again in his shoulder.

"Shhhh… shhhh… you're okay… you're okay baby." He soothed her like he had when she was a toddler, something that she hadn't allowed him to do in a very long time.

Through the haze of unconsciousness he saw Luxa sitting up with the aid of the crawler that had literally saved his life again. _Thank God_ he thought and felt the world slipping from him. He heard Boots calling his name but he found it too hard to open his eyes again. With one final sigh he felt himself drift off into unconsciousness that was free of pain, and sadness and most especially the monster that he knew would haunt his nightmares for years to come.

**A/N: Okay so that's pretty much it folks! I'll have an epilogue up as soon as I finish it **

**To answer a few questions—I WILL be writing a sequel but it will be mostly fluff and not as intense as this one. It's going to be a romance just because I love Gluxa and Hizzie and both will be prominent in this next story. But to answer another question NO I will not be writing it right away. I don't know when I will be starting it. I have some other great fan fictions that have been on the backburner while I try to finish this one and I want to write those because they are neglected **

**What did you think of this chapter? Please leave me a review!**

**Thanks for everything! You guys are awesome,**

**Lee**


	23. Epilogue: A New Beginning

**Disclaimer: Suzanne Collins owns all of the characters, original storylines, and everything Underland! I own my plot and my (too many) OC's. I don't even hold a candle to her.**

**Author's Note: So this is it my friends. I will say that it has been a crazy fun journey. I'll be posting my real goodbye in a chapter after this but here is a preview. I love you guys and I can't wait to start my next story with the Underland. I have a lot of fan fictions planned for this book and it's hard to choose which one to write next. **

**I hope you have a fun time reading. Hopefully this answers any and all questions. If you are still confused about something ask me about it in a review. I should be able to explain most of it.**

**Thanks,**

**Lee**

Her eyelashes fluttered, sending mottled shadows across her cheeks. Gregor looked up in interest at the movement. Luxa sighed as she woke up and looked at him for a few moments before breaking into a smile.

"I'm glad you're okay." He said quietly.

"As am I. How do you fare?" She asked her voice just audible.

"I am good. Better than I was." He lifted up his leg wrapped tightly in a cast of hardened spider silk, "The doc's think I'll be down her for at least 3 more months… but between you and me—I'm not complaining."  
She smirked and adjusted herself so she was lying on her side. Her head had a thick bandage around it and she winced as her headache was renewed with the movement.

"They said that they didn't want to use painkillers on you because your skull was busted pretty good and they don't want your blood thinner. But Howard did say they could give you some of that sleeping medicine so you wouldn't have to be awake for this part?"

"…no. I am alright." She said, reaching out a hand. He grasped it with his own. They were silent for a few minutes just enjoying each other's company.

"How long have you been waiting here?" She asked him.

"Not very long actually. Howard wheeled me down here about fifteen minutes ago. He said you were probably about to wake up and that you might want to talk… you know… about what happened."  
She bit her lip, wishing that he hadn't brought it up. She did want to talk but…

"I don't know if I can right now. I'm still too confused. But later… I do want to talk to you but I must sort all of these memories out before I can understand them."

He nodded, smiling.

"We can talk anytime you like. Without the Alira I don't really have anything to do with my life… so I guess I'll be down here for a while if that's okay with you."  
She looked at him her eyes softening as her wicked half smile came out, "Yes I would enjoy you staying here." She said.

Out of instinct he drew in closer to kiss her, feeling it was the right thing to do, but she turned her head away so that he only pecked her on the cheek. He sat up feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Gregor… I would like it to be like this… but I don't think you understand…I—"

"Luxa! You have awakened!" A new voice startled Gregor out of his confusion. He turned to the newcomer and found himself looking at a very frazzled man. His hair was a mess and he had large circles underneath his eyes. His long coat was made out of white material but there were black designs over the sleeves. Gregor guessed that he must be the head doctor or something.

"Oh no…" Luxa said under her breath too quiet for Gregor to hear her. He smiled at the man and said, "Doctor, can we get some medication for her? I think she's hurting pretty bad."  
The man stopped and looked at him in disgust, seeming unable to speak.

"Gregor… oh Sandwich help me," She sighed and sat up slowly as both sets of eyes were drawn to her, "Gregor this is what I was trying to say…"

The man interrupted her, "My name is Rhett," shook Gregor's hand crushing his fingers. Gregor's brows came together, recognizing the threat, "I'm her betrothed".

DAY OF RECKONING DAY OF RECKONING DAY OF RECKONING

"Where are you taking me?" Lizzie asked her eyes currently blindfolded and her feet shuffling as she was lead down hallway after hallway by her dark haired friend. He laughed and answered, "Somewhere secret."

"Well that doesn't sound dirty or anything." She said with a snicker.

He didn't seem to get the connotation because he answered innocently, "Well yes there is dirt but I promise that it is worth it."  
As he turned a corner she instantly felt warmer. There was light here, she could tell—a lot more light than had been in the dark corridors of the castle.

"Alright… are you ready?" He asked her and she nodded. She could feel him close behind her and she shivered at how near to him she was. He undid the knot on her blindfold and stood behind her as it fell. She gasped as her eyes adjusted to the light. Vines shot up like pillars all around her. Flowers bloomed in any color and fragrance that she could dream of and seemed to fill all of the space not taken by the green leaves. There was a path through the overhanging vines—almost like a tunnel of flowers.

Hazard took Lizzies hand in his own and led down the path. She couldn't stop staring. Tiny lizards and frogs sat starting at them from the leaves, every so often running out of sight. Live butterflies, the small kind from the overland were fluttering around basking in the warmth of the sun and drinking the sweet nectar that the flowers produced. And high above them through the gaps in the leaves Lizzie could see a gigantic light that must have been the nutrient source for all of the plants.

"Hazard… this is amazing!"

"Thanks" he chuckled, "But it's not the best part." Pulling her forward he swept through a curtain of thin vines. Lizzie gasped. There in the center of a clearing was the most beautiful tree house that Lizzie had ever seen. Intricate paintings covered every wooden surface and ivy and vines had been allowed to grow up to the top of it, adding to the beauty of it. Pulleys and rope ladders led to different levels and Lizzie marveled at the craftsmanship.

"I built it myself. Luxa had a large banquet hall cleared out—one of the old ones that was never used." Hazard said proudly.  
"You did all of this yourself?"  
"Well most of it anyway. I had to get help carting in some of the plants from the jungle but most of them were grown here."

Lizzie was speechless. She had never seen something so amazing.

"There's a water system that keeps the generator running so the light is always on, but I can also transfer the power over to smaller lights and make it look like the stars. I've read a lot about them and I think I did a pretty good job of recreating them."  
"Hazard. This isn't pretty good—this is so much better than I could ever create!"

He smiled and took her hand, leading her to one of the rope ladders. He held the bottom steady as she climbed and soon joined her at the top. She stared out at the leafy jungle in amazement.

"The light is bright enough that you'll tan up here." He said, "I've gotten darker." He raised his sleeves and sure enough Lizzie could see the dark skin glowing there.

"The first time Luxa tried to tan she was burnt bright red for three weeks. I guess being a halflander has it's advantages."

Lizzie chuckled, still transfixed by the beauty of it.  
"Lizzie?" she turned toward him, "I've been doing some research. There is something called UV light that comes from your sun… and when you don't get enough of the light you will become very sick. But I believe that the light in this room would be able to sustain you for quite some time."

"Oh yeah?" She asked, wondering where he was going with this.

"I.. well I was wondering if you would like to see how long it lasts. I mean, I was wondering if you would like to stay down here…"

"With you?" She asked and he instantly turned red.

"Well—I mean I understand if you're against the idea. I am a halflander and my home is here and your home is up there and it probably would be crazy but I mean—"

She put a hand over his mouth and grinned, "I would love to stay here with you."

His eyes widened and the corners of his own smile could not be hidden by her hand.

"Weally?" He asked, his words muffled.

"Yeah, really." She said and removed her hand and replaced it with her lips.

DAY OF RECKONING DAY OF RECKONING DAY OF RECKONING DAY OF RECKONING

Her feet dangled dangerously over the edge of the sheer cliff, but she didn't care. On that day for a few hours she felt absolutely invincible.

The team had welcomed her with open arms as their new hero. Creed had said that as soon as he felt up to it he would take her out training with a hover board and Lizzie had cried (Boots wasn't quite sure if it was out of happiness or not). Either way Lizzie had said that she was proud of her and that she would be designing Boots a board of her own.

Of course her life as a team member would probably be short lived. There really wasn't much to fight now that the Alira were gone. The others had told her all about how suddenly during their fight all the Alira's had suddenly just dissolved into nothing.

And it had all been at her hand. She now looked down at them—so small yet so unclean with murder. She had to stop thinking of it as that. If she hadn't of killed that…thing then her brother would have died. It was the simple facts of life. Kill or be killed. She had heard Gregor say that to the other team members time and time again, but she didn't realize how difficult that decision would be.

"Alone, you stay, alone?" a voice called out from behind her.

"Temp! Of course I don't want to be alone! How did you find me?" She asked the roach as he approached and knelt on the ground next to her.

"From the palace, followed you, I did." He said. She laughed.

"You're always looking out for me." She said and looked back out into the inky darkness. She had brought a torch with her but had left it propped against the wall of the tunnel so that there would be nothing in between her and her thoughts.

"Alright, the princess is, alright?" He asked sensing the trouble inside of her.

"Yes…no. I'm not okay." She said feeling the tears well up again.

"Killed him, you did—for Gregor, killed him."  
"Yeah… but now I feel horrible. I just can get the feeling of the sword going through him out of my head."

Temp was silent, processing this information.

"Arise, from great suffering, many arise."

"What?" she asked, not quite sure she had heard him right.

"Great people, great suffering brings great people."

"So you're saying that by suffering I'm going to become stronger."  
"Believes this, Temp does."

"But when will the suffering end?"  
"The suffering is the beginning."  
"The beginning of what?" She asked looking out into the darkness hoping for a small amount of light that would show her what to do.

"New adventure, the beginning of, new adventure."

Somewhere in the distance a light flickered into being. Whether it was a patrol rekindling his dying embers, a lightening bug heading home or even some other strange occurrence in the world under the land Boots felt a sense of peace.  
A new adventure had begun.

**DAY OF RECKONING**

**A/N: The End**


	24. AN: Thanks and Goodbye

Dear friends,

This journey has finally come to a close and I am being truthful when I say that I am sorry that it is over. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing, reading reviews and having discussions about my stories and the other stories that I have read.

This incredible journey wouldn't have happened without many people and I want to thank a few here.

Thanks to everyone who has EVER reviewed my work. I really appreciate everything you did and all of the thoughts you had on my stories.  
I am going to thanks a few people who were with me from the get-go. If your name is not here that does not mean that you were not thoroughly appreciated. I just want to add a special thanks to these few individuals for all the hard work they put into this story and the development of it.

chocoyum4

Charlotte Wilkes

Alicia out of Wonderland

This-is-Deb/Liperfun

Evil Gregor the Overlander

A lot Like Gregor

Sombrita

Collins

Fantasy Freak 23

Fool's Nocturne

Now just because you didn't make the list does NOT mean that I didn't enjoy your reviews. It was just that these people had serious (and many times very long) conversation emails with me to help me along on my project. Their constant support has really kept me going.

I couldn't have done it without all of you out there and I am so thankful to everyone.  
I will be doing a second story that uses the same characters/OC's and picks up right where this one left off and I kind of have an idea for the third one. The next one will be romance/comedy and the third will be fluff and possibly another war(?) Not quite sure on that—it's still in the cranial blender.

Well thanks so much to everyone! I love you guys!

Fly you High,  
Emily Ray (Lee)


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